


Decklist: The Heroes Section. BNHA Edition

by mantinos



Series: The Decklist Serie [1]
Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Basically Card Games Gone Real, Card Games, Card Games Mechanics, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2020-09-28 20:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20432108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mantinos/pseuds/mantinos
Summary: This is what happens when a guy fall - by mistake - in the white void between worlds and get out - by mistake once again - with powers that he doesn't know.He is now in a world that its's not his own, with power he doesn't really understand and he's trying to become a hero. Apparently.Summary will be edited at the right moments.





	1. Chapter 1: Beginning Phase

There is a difference between being a Magic player and being a Magic Player. As well as there are differences between being a Magic Player and a Magic _ Player _.All of this is clearly my own opinion, of course, nothing more than simple personal thought, but I think it has some merit.

The first is the one that is a casual gamer. One that plays mostly for fun, don’t care about the meta or the fluff, maybe buy a pack here and there.

The second is the one that is a bit more involved. Go to the various events, take part in pre-release and drafts, know a bit of the story behind the planeswalker, own more than a single deck - or Grimoire, if you want to get technical - and so on.

The third is, of course, the one that is an hardcore fan. Go to all the events, even in the neighbouring town, hold a lot of cards and several decks for every format, go to tournaments, etc.

There is overlap and several degree of distance between the three categories, of course. These were - I felt - the various points of Player-ness. The minimum, the medium, the maximum.

In this scale, I was firmly in the medium. A bit lower than the medium, actually, but still around that. A solid thirty-thirty five on a hundred sliding scale, I think.

Of course it’s not like I didn’t have daydreams of being a planeswalker or something like that. Everyone had them at least once, who wouldn’t? Being basically a god that even other gods had to obey was… Well, it’s a kind of power that not many could resist. Even if you didn’t want to actually **DO** anything with that power, just having it would be a headrush.

Still, even with how much I talked about it and even dreamt about it - a strange thing that had half of the plot taken from a strange version of Prototype or something like that. Maybe InFamous? - I didn’t really expect to get my hands on that power.

And, well, in a certain sense I was right. I didn’t.

But I did get my hands on something else, even if a lot similar than I thought. Understand, I said that I got my hands on it. That doesn’t mean that I managed to get it by any virtue of my own. It was just a… a fluke. A random chance, someone could say. I simply fell on it. Or in it.

Whatever the right conjugation is, I fell in the **Fourth** category of Magic players: the Magic Players.

Yup. I was one of those people were the cards came alive in my hands: Sorcery, Instant, Creature, it was printed on a card, I could summon it.

As long as I played it like in the game.

It’s not like I had the unlimited cosmic power that a True Planeswalker would have. Furthermore, I was absolutely sure that if I ever met one of them and they took offense to my imitation, I would be very very dead in a very very short timeframe.

Still, I still had the power to call and bind to my will the real and true forces of nature, didn’t I? Just that - hehe, _ just _ _ … _ \- should make me pretty happy, shouldn’t it?

Well, yes. It did. Then I realized that my fall was a bit more literal than what I thought.

For a moment, I simply thought that I had let myself fall backwards on my bed or I had fallen asleep, something like that. Then, when I didn’t stop falling, the wrongness of the situation occurred to me.

I was floating downwards - I couldn’t call it falling anymore mostly because, first, I didn’t have anywhere to fall **to** and, second, I was moving slowly. So, I was, for all that matters, floating.

I was floating in a pure white space. No angles, no shadows - even mine - no perspective, no nothing. White.

I felt a bit like a fly on a white sheet of paper. Like I was the only 3-D thing in a 2-D world. 

And then… nothing. I mean, that a R.O.B. didn’t appear, some mind bending monstrosity didn’t manifest in front of me, no God excused themselves to be the cause of my death(?), nothing.

It was me and… as strange as it sounds, the White. I almost expected Truth from FMA to appear any moment now.

It didn’t, but I expected him to.

Instead, in the purest Kingdom Hearts way possible, three objects appeared in front of me.

One on my left was a shard of a mirror, with the reflection in negative. The colors I mean. It was a bit like that scene in the Lord of the Rings when Galadriel goes all evil side.

The one on my right was a Boxing Glove on an arrow. Something that came from a cartoon, I swear. It was colored as a cartoon or a comic book illustrations, too.

And the last, straight up in front of me, was a Magic card. Brown background, five colored dots, a normal card.

Nothing more. No explanation, no voice from God, no text, no window popping open, nothing. It seemed to be a current theme, actually. Still, ok.

I would like to say that I stood there for several minutes, carefully weighing my options, thinking of what it could mean… but I really didn’t. I was falling/floating for how long, I was in the White and I wanted out, in a way or another.

So I debated maybe two minutes what to do, before grabbing the card. A dumb choice? Maybe. As of now, I am still wondering what the other two choices were, but I made my bed and now I have to lie in it, as the saying goes.

So, I grabbed the card and what happened next… well, I’m not even sure. I transitioned, somewhat, in another place. I was on a circular platform, made of stone, with a series of… parts floating in front of me. Body parts, I mean.

That part looked a lot like the avatar creation of a videogame. Also, I was disembodied. But I could see things and move things and…

Let’s just say that it was trippy. A lot.

So, seeing as I didn’t have my body anymore, I started building a new one. Luckily, I didn’t have to build it from the ground up, I just had to put the various parts together. As for the end result, I like to think it ended fairly well, no?

Just take a [ look ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b1/2d/c0/b12dc0ef66da5f63e03e1bc0da12c0fc.jpg).

The clothes came later, but yes, I took them from another series of premade parts. After…

Well, things changed once again. I didn’t fall again, but found myself in a library, more or less. Five reading desks, the one in thin metal, that could keep only a single book on them, stood in front of me, each one with a different work on it.

Young Justice - the 2011 one -, then My Hero Academia, Worm, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Highschool of the Dead.

Keep in mind that I still had no idea of what the hell was happening. Of the five, HotD was out. Zombie Apocalypse? No, thank you.

Worm was out for the same reason, actually. It was the most depression-inducing of the five AND I really don’t like grimdark.

Dragon Age was interesting, but without power was a suicide waiting to happen. Too risky for me, especially because I really didn’t know what the hell was happening and it was placed in a medieval-like time period. Nope.

The last two were, more or less, safe. Saf_ er _. Still, Young Justice was DC and they did love their end of the world event. That only left me with a real choice, really.

A place, where 80% of the population had superpowers, true, but still mostly safe. So I touched the My Hero Academia manga.

Yeah, that was the moment when I started falling once again. This time it was like Alice in Wonderland, slow and sweet, swaying back and forth like being in a hammock. All around me, books, games, anime, cartoons, films and more moved like being caught in a tornado.

While I fell, I looked down and saw three stars shining in between the mess, their light attracting my attention unnaturally.

The first was a light grey and almost jumped in my hands once I was near enough it. The second was blue and I had to grab it, the whole thing still. The third was a subdued red and it actively tried to escape me.

I don’t know how exactly I managed to grab it, but I did. Good for me.

The three stars twisted on themselves, before turning into deck-holders. My deck-holders, to be specific.

My first three Commander decks. Opening, they seemed to be complete. All cards accounted. Good.

I mean, I still didn’t know what this whole thing was, but I liked my decks and were a familiar thing to look at, so…

I kept it tight to myself. The end of the fall was coming in and I was going faster and faster, the end looking like a wall painted completely black, without any hint of light or seams to indicate that it was an opening or a door. Only a very solid and very hard full stop.

I think that I passed out when I hit, because the next thing I remember is waking up on a bed. I was convinced that everything I had experienced was a dream, but I opened my eyes and…

I wasn’t in my room. I was in a bunk bed, in a room with three more kids. We were all around the same age, more or less 13-14 age range. Sparse furnishing, but apparently of low quality.

Japanese. I blearily looked out of the window - absentmindedly noticing that I didn’t need my glasses anymore, which was nice - and saw the sign that was on the grass outside.

Musutafu Orphanage.

So this wasn’t a dream, then. Ok.

My mind felt fuzzy and I was pretty sure that I would get a panic attack soon, when a voice cut through my panic and attracted my attention. A woman, around late thirties, was calling from the door, her voice firm and gentle.

“Well? Alex” My name felt strange on her lips, something like a mix of the correct pronunciation and accent from another language. Then I remembered that Japanese had problem with certain letters “It’s a school day. It’s your last year, you can’t be late.”

In a daze, I got up and moved. While I ate breakfast, dressed in my uniform, took the train, entered the school, slowly my memories filled in.

I was an orphan, I wasn’t Japanese by birth, but I had been abandoned in Japan by my birth parents because I was quirkless.

Pretty clichè as far as stories go, but whatever, I didn’t really care. Thanks to the various strange looks that people had I didn’t get singled out for the white hair and red eyes. No, I got singled out for being a _ Gaijin _ and Quirkless. Mostly for the second thing.

And, while all of this would help me, it didn’t really revealed why I was here. Or…

If this body was quirkless, who were those three ghosts that floated near me.

One was a black kid, female, dressed in a white top and rough-looking skirt, with a net veil on her hair and down her back. Several moths flew around her and she had a strange white marking on her forehead.

The second was a statuesque woman, finely dressed in bronze-black armor, a blue cape on her shoulders and golden jewels adorning her body.

The last was a man, only a dark grey toga covering his grey skin, an elaborate golden mask with a downturned mouth covering his face.

I remained still in surprise or a few seconds, before my memory worked out who I was looking.

[ Aminatou ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=450638) . [ Inalla ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433279) . [ Daxos ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405191).

My commander’s decks commanders.

...That sounded like a tongue twister.

Still, they were here and they were looking at me. I wasn’t sure what they wanted from me, but the three ghosts were looking at me, floating at my side.

A thump on my shoulder shock me out of my distraction and I hurried inside the school, moving towards my classroom. I was in the same middle school as Izuku - because of course I was - but I wasn’t, as far as I could see, in the same class.

And, even if I was, what would I do?

At that thought, the three ghost shone a bit, moving forward and putting themselves in front of me, almost like they were trying to make me choose one. I blinked.

Choose? But… I didn’t even…

“Class start. Up!”

Oh. Class is starting. I’ll think about this later.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

In the end I didn’t manage to pay any kind of attention towards the professor, my mind fixed on the situation and on the choice I had to make.

Which one of the three? I knew my decks and all three were slow to ramp, best in mid-late game, if they managed to reach it. Absolute best in multiplayer, actually.

Still, I had literally no idea what kind of situation I was in, so… Which one would give me the most benefits? Mmhhh….

The ring of the bell of the lunch hour was enough to distract me and turn me towards the window. Did I pack lunch? Apparently no. I let my body move on autopilot as I moved towards the shop. A quick check showed that I had enough money to buy.

Well, I was getting hungry. I usually loved trying new flavors of food, but I didn’t have the right mentality to focus on that.

“Inalla.”

Nothing.

“Right. **Inalla, Arch** **mage Ritualist**.”

Yeah, that worked. Daxos and Aminatou vanished in the background, while Inalla moved forward, floating right at my back, assuming a more… I would like to say solid, but it wasn’t really one. It was more present, more vibrant.

**GAME START!**

The sound of cards shuffling echoed in my ears and, after a moment, seven glowing cards appeared in front of me. When I looked at them, it was… well a good hand, after all.

[ Island ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=434466) , [ Swamp ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=434469) , [ Swamp ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=434469) , [ Vivid Creek ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247307) , [ Azami, Lady of Scrolls ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433014) , [ Arcanis the Omnipotent ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433012) and [ Kess, Dissident Mage ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=464155).

Not a fast one in any kind of way, but a pretty good one, if with a bit of setup. the only problem was… what the hell should I do with it? I had seven glowing gold cards floating around my head like a halo and I had literally zero idea of what to do.

Well, for now it seems that it’s working like a normal game, so… what would I do? Well, play Vivid Creek and then pass the turn.

When I thought that, the card moved in my direct field of vision and a superimposed image of the Creek appeared where I was looking. It was showing me where it would appear in the world.

Well then.

With a thought the whole thing receded back and I kept my halo of glowing cards around my head, trying to ignore it. This warranted some investigation.

*********************************

The end of the schoolday was unremarkable. There was something that I was trying to remember, but the whole situation was still strange for me, so I simply moved away and took the first train that brought me away from the city, in a place where no one had the chance to see me.

The woods around the city were perfect.

So, I called upon the Vivid Creek once again and the superimposed image appeared in front of me. Trying to put in a way that didn’t intersect anything, I let it go and confirmed my choice, in a way to speak.

The glowing card flew forward, until it reached the right place and turned into a shower of gold dust.

Nothing happened.

“I… end my turn?”

Nothing again.

“Ok. Maybe it’s because Vivid Creek enter in the field tapped?”

So I sat down and waited. And, after five minutes, more or less, another card joined my mental hand.

[ Darksteel Ingot ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433139).

Good, more sources of mana were always good. Getting up, I almost fell down when the earth trembled and quaked a bit under my feet, the Vivid Creek sprouting from nowhere, pushing the trees and the dirt away, a rainbow shimmering above it. No, wait. Two rainbows.

The token, I guess.

Ok, so. Lands appear in reality. Not in the turn they enter if tapped, but when they untap. Now, what happen if I tap them? I don’t have anything play right now, but I can if I wait a couple of turns.

So, let’s play another land. Island.

The card glew and I superimposed is with the creek, to see what would happen. In this case, the small waterfall and rocks appeared without any problem, inserting themselves with the previous land.

So, similar lands fuse together. Good to know.

“Pass my turn.”

I wasn’t sure if it was necessary to say it, but it was a habit and I didn’t see any reason to stop, so.

Five minutes later, another card joined my mental hand.

Another [ Island ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=434468).

What would happen if I dropped it under my feet? Let’s try.

The image was a bit harder to put, as I needed to look where I wanted it to appear, but I managed. The rock grew from under my feet, the creek and the river joining it, forming a very small lake in the middle of the forest and an island at the center. A quick check showed that anything else was simply pushed away from me: trees, rocks, animals, dirt.

So, I didn’t take over the space, I literally brought a little bit of space here.

Now, try number three. What happens if I tap them to draw mana?

I mentally tapped the Creek and the two Islands. Three blue sphere of energy appeared from nowhere and twisted and turned around me, filling me with energy. It was potential, ideas, innovation, pure logic…

It was Blue Mana.

I shunted it in the Darksteel Ingot literally instantly. Then passed my turn, this time mentally, to see what would happen.

First, a fist sized ingot of dark materials appeared in my hand. It was spherical, shining like glass and reflective. Three sparks of light seemed to be circling it, but it was mostly a trick of the light.

Right after that, the creek, the river and the island lost color. They turned grey and lifeless, but still there. When I tried to touch the water, it still behaved like water, so I was good on that part.

Still, that was enough for now. I let my turn refresh, adding another card to my hand ([ Nivix Guildmage ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=456232)) and returned towards the orphanage. I wondered if the game would remain or it would stop at midnight or something.

***************************

It didn’t stop. That was both good - ‘cause I could stockpile power - and bad - because of the whole reality editing I would make - and unknown - because I had no idea what would happen if I summoned a creature - so I had to do more experimenting.

School was boring, but it was abuzz with rumors and gossips. Apparently Bakugou had been caught hostage by a villain and had been saved by Midoriya.

Right, that had happened. Did that meant that he was now on track to become the next One for All holder? Mmhhh…

Yeah, a meeting was in order.


	2. Chapter 2: Untap

After school I laid in wait, until I saw the dark green curls of the boy move away from the school. He was going towards the train station, so I followed, trying to appear like a normal guy going home. Only, I took his train instead of mine, choosing a train car behind him.

On another note, these trains were really clean and fast. Nice.

After three stops, he got out of the train and I followed. I managed to not being spotted by him for three streets, two turns and one cross.

Then a hand grabbed my arm and I got dragged into a dark alley by a blonde firecracker, red eyes glaring into me.

“Well, fucker, what do you think you are doing following Deku, uh?!”

Bakugou Katsuki. Of course. Narrative causality wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Why do you care?” My deadpan answer was enough to make him blink and I used that short moment to take a step back, my Swamp flying forward and ready to be deployed.

...did this still counted as my turn? I wasn’t sure.

“I don’t!” Typical teenage. Accuse one of having something as banal as emotion and they all go defensive.

“Then why did you ask?” Another deadpan answer. He was clearly surprised that I hadn’t fall on my knees worshipping him, so he was slowly turning to anger.

A lot of fanfic were right about that, it seemed. To be honest, it was canon, too.

“Just answer the… wait. You are the other quirkless fucker that goes to my school.” Apparently he knew me? That was new. A cruel smile started to spread across his face.

“So, that’s what it is. Ah! Two useless, quirkless nobodies put together won’t amount to nothing more than what they already are: Nothing!”

Hurtful.

If, you know, I gave literally anything about his opinion. Also, I couldn’t physically resist. I had to.

“Well...” I superimposed the swamp under his feet “...the rumors of my quirklessness...” and I let it manifest. With a slurping sound, Bakugou found himself away from me. When he took a reflexive step forward, he found himself waist deep in a swamp, while I stood on the surface without any problem whatsoever “...were greatly exaggerated.”

I smiled at his enraged and baffled face, before turning and power walking away.

With a bit of luck it would take him a bit to escape. Also, the fact that I could move inside my own terrain without problems was confirmed.

All the same, I was hearing explosions going off, so better walk a bit faster.

*******************************************

Finding the beach wasn’t hard, but I had to stop and ask a couple of people before I managed to orient myself. It was really a dump, uh.

Piles and piles of junk and trash all around, completely uncaring of the environment. That was kind of impressive, in the wrong way.

The good news was, while I was searching for the beach, my turn had refreshed, so I had a new card.

Another Swamp. Well, more land was good. Also I was still iffy on summoning a creature. I would have to do that, sooner or later, but I let the whole thing go, for now.

Weaving through the maze created by the trash, I kept my ears well open and tried to listen to anything that sounded like human voices.

It was kinda hard with all the seagulls, but I managed to hear them. Finding my way to them, on the other hand, was a bit harder, but I managed.

Once I reached the small clearing where the two were training, I kept myself hidden for a few moments, simply looking.

All Might - in his skeletal form - was instructing Midoriya Izuku - Quirkless Wonder - on how to do the exercise correctly. Now the only thing I had to do was… what? I had no idea.

I let myself fall on the sand, simply listening, unsure on what to do. Without any kind of direction in my life, I… what…

I had powers. I had a sort of magic. Well, Magic, to be correct. Still. I… had nowhere to go, no one to talk with, no overarching mission, no target, nothing.

I could follow the plot, I could destroy it completely, I could become a hero, a villain, a vigilante, anything. And I… I just wanted to go back home.

Sad, isn’t it? How I had in my hand what I wanted for all my life and I would gladly give it all for returning back to my own home. Probably things would be different if I had chosen to be here, but I had no saying in what was happening and…

The hiccups of my crying must have been too loud, because I found myself looking at the skeleton form of All Might and the worried eyes of Izuku Midoriya.

“Is everything alright, young man?” His voice was as warm as his demeanor suggested. I had no idea if he had the same voice in the anime or not. I only knew that hearing that voice made me renew my crying, sending Izuku in a panic attack and Toshinori Yagi in a sigh. After that, he put his hand on my head and rubbed a bit.

“Calm down, calm down. I am here.”

I had no frame of reference for those words and yet, I calmed down all the same. They were reassuring and the certainness behind them was, someway, the most impressive thing of all.

I cried for a few minutes later, before finally calming down. Izuku had a handkerchief with him, something I couldn’t be grateful enough.

“Thank you. I’ll bring it back to you clean, I swear.” “Ahah, don’t worry. I want to be a hero and this is the minimum.”

His smile was really like sunshine, so bright that I found myself smiling back.

“So, young man. Want to tell us why were you crying? Maybe we can help?” Yagi asked, sitting cross legged in front of me, while Izuku hurried and sat down near him, still looking at me with a worried expression.

What to say?

“I’m… well, I’m an orphan. And not from Japan. I got abandoned here when I was little, maybe five or so, from my birth parents. Because I am quirkless. Well, was.”

I recounted this without any hint of emotion, but it still sent Izuku reeling and Yagi frowning.

“Was? Are you saying that...” 

“Yes. I developed a quirk. Yesterday. As for it’s effects...” I looked at a pile of junk and superimposed one of the Swamps I had in my hand. The whole thing got pushed away as the land manifested, between the jump of surprise from both the heroes near me - pro or aspirant.

“Swamp generation? At range? Maybe using geokinesis or hydrokinesis. It could also be induced via rot... Or some sort of illusions?” Izuku was already murmuring, his fingers twitching and clearly wanting to take a notebook and start scribbling. Yagi was just frowning, clearly focusing on something.

“Not exactly. It’s a card game.” That brought both of them to a hard stop, turning towards me with incredulity written on their faces.

“Pardon?” 

“A what?” Well, it did sound a lot like a simple flight of fancy, but it was true, so…

“Let me show you.  Azami, Lady of the Scrolls! ”

Three blue wysps of energy appeared around me, a halo of energy that were clearly visible to everyone, if their reaction was something to go for. Then, another two black wysps joined the blue ones, one from the swamp that I had just cast, thus completing the mana cost. After that, they all coalesced into a card hovering over my palm.

I grabbed it and threw it in front of me, where it vanished into an explosion of blue energy and reappeared on the beach, wearing the pink-red kimono with gold accents, with the scrolls floating around her and a severe expression on her face.

She didn’t say anything, simply stood there, looking at me, while Yagi coughed blood and Izuku was ooohing and aaahing. I wonder what would happen if…

“Use your power on yourself. Then I pass my turn.”

She nodded and slowly vanished, turning grey and almost ghostly, only vaguely there. Another card appeared in my hand:  [ Crosis’s Charm ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433101) .

Yeah, that card was kind of worrying. Did it work on humans? Also, even if I discarded the use of destroy a creature, what would happen if I sent someone back to their hand? The implications were…

“Young man! Are you back with us?” Yagi’s voice made me blink, before returning my attention towards him. He had a stern expression on his face, while Izuku was worried and twisting his hands. I slowly nodded.

“Sorry, I just got a card that worries me.”

Yeah, that didn’t explain anything and it was clear on their face. So I explained more.

“It’s called Crosis’s Charm, it… oh.” The card appeared in my hand, visible to everyone. To cut on the problems, I showed it to them and waited.

Their answer was one of confusion. Understandable, I guess “Do any of you have a smartphone with internet?”

“Here.” Izuku gave me his own phone without saying anything more and I smiled at him in thanks, before opening the search engine and typing inside it.

I really hope that it would result in something, because I didn’t know how to explain it otherwise.

Luckily, it did.

“Here. It’s this game here.” And I showed him an article to Magic the Gathering. The cards weren’t produced anymore, but the game had been famous enough that it had remained on the internet.

After a few minutes of reading, Yagi looked at me with a heavy frown on his face, while Izuku had retrieved one of his notebooks and was copying down everything that was written on the site. I wasn’t sure why, the phone was his and I didn’t cancel the browser history.

“Young man… excuse me, what is your name?” Right. I knew I had forgotten something.

“Name’s Alex. Nice to meet you.”

“Very well. I am Toshinori Yagi. As I was saying, young… Alex?” He half asked, looking at me to see if it was right. I nodded. I was fine with them using my name.

“Young Alex. If your quirk really works like the card game...” he had to stop for a moment, the whole thing a bit absurd even for him “...then I can only say that you have a very powerful quirk with what are, undoubtedly, pretty strict limitations. Still, this doesn’t limit you from doing whatever you want.”

Hearing him talk was relaxing, my stress and anxiety simply melting away. He had that sort of effect on the people.

“The only problem is… I don’t know what I want to do. I was quirkless until yesterday, I never… this whole thing is… overwhelming.”

“I understand. Your life changed completely in the span of twenty four hours, you are confused and uncertain. I would like to say that this is something that doesn’t happen often, but it’s not true. Even with all the advancement that we have made, there are some things that we can never truly control or remove. Accidents, illness, cancer… anything at all. Life is chaos.”

He stopped for a moment, to take another breath, and I simply remained there, looking at him, waiting for him to continue. His voice had something hypnotic to it, something that commanded attention.

“But it is for this chaos that is worth living. A life without a choice is not life at all. You gained great power, but lost what direction you had before. You are on uncharted path. Explore this new life of yours. You have infinite possibilities in front of you.” and he put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.

I was speechless, so I simply nodded and gulped down the breath that it had blocked my throat. Izuku was, more or less, in the same state.

“So? What do you think you could do with your new outlook on life?” I looked at him, before looking at Izuku and smiling.

“I think… I think I’ll try to become a hero.”

Like it was a sign from the heavens, my turn changed one again and another card appeared in my hand.  [ Exotic Orchard ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433181) .

...talking about mixed signals.

Azami reappeared in her full color and vibrancy, drawing surprising breath from Izuku and a small cough from Yagi, before he refocused his attention on me.

“If you are sure, I am not going to say no. I’m just gonna ask you to be careful and think about it carefully. Being a hero it’s arduous and difficult. You have to put your life on the line for the others and it’s not something that is chosen on a whim. So. Are you sure?”

I gulped at the seriousness and nodded “Yes.”

He smiled, as sunny as Iuku had before “Then, young Alex, I’m happy to hear that you’ll embark on the road to be a hero. Young Midoriya here is doing the same thing.”

Izuku smiled bashfully, before extending his hand “Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you.” I shook his hand back, a smile on my face “Alex. Pleasure is mine. Call me Alex.”

I dunno if the familiarity was overwhelming or what, but he nodded, speechless. Then, Yagi clapped his hands and called back Izuku attention.

“Young Midoriya, we need to continue. Meanwhile, Young Alex, why don’t you explore your quirk a bit more on that corner of the beach? Away from where people can see you.”

Right. Public usage of quirks is forbidden.

And I left a swamp in the middle of an alley. Whoooops.

Oh well, as long as no one saw me, it’s all good.

I moved to the side of the beach, Azami following me in silence, before casting the last Swamp in my hand and summoning once again.

“Swamp.” another pile of trash got displaced and moved “Come,  Arcanis the Omnipotent !”

In a flash of actinic light the six wysps of light turned into a card, that exploded into a robed human, covered from head to toe, with energy crackling and snapping all around him.

“Azami, I use your power. Tap both you and Arcanis.” And instantly the two creatures vanished into the grey ghost-like status, significant of their being tapped situation.

The cards that appeared in my hand were interesting. Well, one. One was another Island. But the second…

Well, it was Body Double.

I was a bit worried about it’s effects. Would it work only on my Graveyard? Would it work on any single dead that had ever existed? Or maybe only on the most historical ones? I didn’t know.

I wanted, no,  _ needed _ to know. And…

Yeah, the person that I had in mind would make me a very bad person. But if I could recall Nana Shimura or any other Hero - or Villain - from the tomb…

No. Too dangerous and attention catching. I would try this once, then, if it worked, destroy the copied creature with Crosis’s Charm and never use it that way again.

I just had to wait five minutes.

********************************************

After  [ Corpse Augur ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433038) appeared in my hand, I took a deep breath and steeled myself. That was the moment.

I threw the Island I got before on the ground, anywhere that didn’t blocked the passage or gave me problem, before focusing. Two swamps and three islands gave me the mana I needed. Everything coalesced into the single card hovering over my palm.

With my eyes closed, I threw it in front of me “ Body Double .”

An androgynous figure, neither man or woman, face veiled by a nondescript mask, it looked at me. I waited for a moment, expecting to see something, anything: a list, a series of images, even just names…

But nothing. The Body Double stood there for a moment, before vanishing into blue motes. I felt the creature vanish from existence and appear in my graveyard.

So. That didn’t work. Good to know. A sigh of relief was almost physically ripped from my body, as I looked around decided what to do. I still had three mana and five cards in my hand…

Let’s try attacking. But first…

“Red with Darksteel Ingot, Vivid Creek. I call you, Nivix Guildmage!”

In an explosion that reminded me of a geyser of boiling water, the guy manifested. It was dressed in red and black, looking a lot like a street racer, with a tanic of… something… hanging from his shoulders.

Before he had even manifested fully, I felt that I could do more than just that. Then I remembered Inalla’s Eminence.

I tapped my last swamp and a copy of the Nivix Guildmage appeared, this one looking a bit less vibrant, a bit more artificial, but it was there and, in contrast to the original, it was ready.

“Ok, let’s see...” In the game I could only target a player or a planeswalker with my attacks. But here, maybe, I could do more?

“Arcanis, hit that pile of trash.”

Without a sound, Arcanis pointed towards the pile and a lightning bolt flashed out, hitting the junk and turning it into melted slag in an instant. If… If that had hit a human being…

“Token Nivix Guildmage, attack the pile to my left.” The token obeyed, twin fireballs slamming against the pile and sending it flying, only burnt remains falling in the sand.

Well, this was a problem. Apparently, my default setting was Lethal Overkill. I mean, there were some times when you had to kill someone - All for One, Overhaul… - but it wasn’t for the most times. Maybe I should become a soldier? But I hate the whole obeying order without discussion…

“Azami, tap yourself and Nivix.” With two more cards in my hand - Island and  [ Terramorphic Expanse ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451241) \- I simply stood there. Wondering.

What should I do?

************************************************

I let the turn pass and, after I got a new card, I stopped and sat down, thinking. If my only choice was to be lethal all the time… But, on the other hand, Bakugou had a rather explosive quirk and he managed to be a hero.

But he could control it. I couldn’t. The attack power of my creatures was fixed. Or it was?

I sent the Terramorphic Expanse to my left, near the water, before actually looking at what I had in my hand. THe new card was  [ Serendib Sorcerer ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433025) , a very good card with a very good effect. There was a combo with a triton card that I couldn’t remember right now.

I had four blue, three black and one multicolor at my fingertips. I only had to choose how to spend it. Well, first of all, I turned towards the Nivix Guildmage.

“I’m gonna use your first power.”

One red wysp from the Darksteel ingot and two islands gave me the three mana that I needed, letting the guildmage do his thing. With a flash of red and blue, a new card appeared in front of me:  [ Silumgar’s Command ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433127) . Nice card, kind of terrifying, but still usable. I think.

For Nivix effect, I sent the Exotic Orchard to the graveyard and focused on my next move.

“Azami, tap yourself and Nivix.” The two vanished and two new cards appeared. Another Swamp.

And  [ Izzet Chronarch ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433107) . Good. Useful. Not as useful right now, but in the future. Maybe.

Eight cards in my hand. Draw from the remaining island and Vivid Creek, draw from one Swamp. Then…

“Come, Serendib Sorcerer.” Blue pants, red tunic slitted in the middle exposing a nicely muscled chest and arms and a clean face. His eyes were shining blue and sparks of power fell from his hands.

A mind mage.

I could have created a token of him with Inalla, but I didn’t have a real target for his ability, so I simply let it go. After that, I pointed at Arcanis.

“Hit that pile of junk, but don’t destroy it. Just stun or something at that level of power. Nothing lethal.”

The creature looked at me, before turning and sending a vortex of blue energy at the junk pile, turning it into shreds. Well, that cinched it.

My creatures don’t have a non-lethal setting.

**LETHAL LAST HIT: AUTO->ON REQUEST. SETTING CHANGED.**

That… Yeah, that would make things problematic.

There was one last thing I needed to try before going back to the orphanage.

“This game? I kind of want to close it now. It is possible?” I injected all of my will in that command and waited, my breath held in my throat.


	3. Chapter 3: Upkeep

It was possible. Inalla nodded deeply, her stern face morphing slowly in a smile, before snapping her fingers. Everything vanished into a flutter of flying cards, everything returning towards me. The various lands vanishing into motes of appropriately colored light, before I felt the deck back in full, slotting itself in my mind.

**GAME END! NO WIN, NO LOSSES, NO DRAW!**

And the three commanders reappeared in my field of vision, ghostly and transparent.

So I could quit a game when I wanted. Or so it seemed. That was good to know. I hoped that it was that way, cause just once didn’t felt very safe to me. All the same, it was better to wait before trying again. Maybe there was some sort of limitation, like being able to stop a game only once a day or something arbitrary like that.

I wouldn’t be surprised.

“How are you, Young Alex?” Yagi’s voice came from behind me and made me turn sharply, a bit surprised.

“Oh, yes. I’m done for now.” I nodded to reinforce my own words. I was done for now, but I had so much more to experiment. I had some Scry card in my Aminatou deck. If I could use them for really seeing in the future or something…

“Then I will accompany you back to the orphanage. It is late and the streets aren’t as safe as they were previously.” Yagi’s voice didn’t broker any questions. He said he would do that, so he would do that.

That was the Number 1 Hero for you, I guess. I simply shrugged and nodded, letting the sunset wash over me with its golden-orange light. Izuku looked exhausted, but still smiled..

“Want to exchange numbers?” I asked him, taking out my own phone, a strange sort of mix between a flip phone and a smartphone. I wasn’t sure what to call it, but apparently it was a cheaper model of phone than a straight up smartphone. Somewhat.

“W-With me?” Izuku’s voice was trembling. I smiled. It was time to be supportive.

“You are an inspiration. You are quirkless and yet you are here, training, to attend the school of your dreams. You are awesome in my books and anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend.” My smile was a bit crooked, but sincere.

Izuku started to cry.

I kind of knew that he was easy to bring to tears, but I didn’t expect this easy.

************************************

“Young Alex. There is a thing that I need to tell you.” I stopped right in front of the gate to the orphanage and turned towards the blond, curious at what he wanted to tell me.

“I want to offer to enter with you and talk with your guardians. You development of a quirk is by no means unique, but certainly is pretty rare. I want to smooth things over with them.”

That… made a certain kind of sense. This wasn’t a classical super hero manga, here superpowers were a thing of every day. Almost mundane. So I simply nodded and opened the way.

“Oh, Alex. Finally you’re here! I was going to… who is this?” “Ma’am , I am Yagi Toshinori. Pleasure meeting you.” “Watanabe Keiko. Are you here for adoption?”

Welp, this was getting embarrassing. I simply entered and moved towards the kitchen. Dinner had ended, but I was hungry and, usually, the leftovers were left in the fridge.

Tonight was steamed fish with greens. Simple, but good. I prepared myself a plate, after which I put the water on the stove to prepare some tea.

“...uirk you say? At his age?” “I know. And yet I saw with my own eyes that he...”

It would be a long night.

******************************************************

The following morning I didn’t go to school. I had an urgent appointment with a doctor that specializes in quirks to show them my own Quirk and get registered. Like a respectable, law-abiding citizen.

After that, I had to go to talk with my homeroom teacher and tell them that I had to change my application for high school because of new and unforeseen circumstances. So basically, a lot of paperwork.

The drive was boring and, Miss Watanabe was focused on driving the old car that we were using. Simply for convenience's sake, of course.

She was a very prudent driver.

I took out my cell phone and sent a message to Izuku, before remembering that he would be on the train towards school. Still, I hoped that he managed to see it before entering his classroom.

**You: **

**Good luck in class! Hope everything goes well.**

**If I don’t meet any problem, I should right before lunch.**

**Want to eat together?**

After waiting for a moment or two, no answer was forthcoming, so I simply shrugged and closed my phone, putting it back in my pocket and looking outside the windows, in the streets.

I waited.

And, in the eternal moment between this second right now and the second when I would reach the clinic, I looked at my three options.

Inalla was tried and true. I was sure that she would work. If I wanted something more subtle, Aminatou was the right choice. Lastly, Daxos was the one that would ramp more and more the more time I kept him on the ground.

Still, downplaying things would be better in the long run, soooo… Aminatou was it.

“ Aminatou ,  the Fate shifter”

**GAME START!**

The black-skinned child moved behind me, floating with eyes filled with the future of the people and everything else, before the sound of shuffling card echoed in my ears.

Then, an opening hand moved into my field of sight.

Swamp.  [ Tranquil Cove ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386703) .  [ Meandering River ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451220) .  [ Loyal Subordinate ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=450617) .  [ Treasure Hunt ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451064) .  [ Aethermage’s Touch ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451123) .  [ Entreat the Dead ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=450616) .

Of the seven, only three were suitable to be shown right away and, of those threes, two took five minutes or so to manifest. Which, granted, it wasn’t all that long, but it still was a bit of a delay. On the other other hand, giving misleading information to people that could or could not be in contact with All for One…

I was starting to develop a headache.

“We’re here.”

Oh.

Well, show time, I guess.

******************************************

“So you are saying that you developed a quirk two days ago, right? Can you show me?”

I admit that the whole thing was way more relaxed than I thought, but I simply went along with it. The doctor, Hiranoe Kuuni, simply introduced himself and started to ask me questions about myself. Lucky me that I had all the memories I needed.

“Sure. But it would be better if...” “Right, wait a sec, I need you to sign this.” And gave me an official looking sheet of paper with what was basically a disclaimer, saying that I understood the consequences of lying, etc etc.

I signed it.

“Very well. Now that you have signed, can you tell me, in your words, what your quirk is like? There is no hurry, take the time you need.”

“Time-delayed multi-form construct summoning.”

My answer was, apparently, a surprise to both the doctor and the guardian, as both of them looked at me with stunned expressions.

“...right. And the size of these constructs is...” “Variable. But fixed.” “WIth that you mean…?” “That I don’t actually choose the construct on the moment. I have a list from which I can choose.”

After a moment of silence the doctor looked at me from over his glasses, a skeptical look on his face “A list.”

I rolled my eyes, before extending a hand “Meandering River.”

The glowing card appeared in the air, slowly hovering and turning above my palm.

“I have a deck of cards. I can use those cards to create things in reality. I need to respect the rules of the game or it won’t work. If you want a demonstration, I need an open space that nobody uses and five minutes.”

I got my open space and my five minutes.

*************************************************

I summoned the meandering river, aiming it away from the rest of the city, before passing my turn.

“So you’re saying that most things appear after only a moment or two, but that others can take up to five minutes to manifest? And that the difference in time is based on how your ‘cards’ are positioned when appearing?”

“Yes.” Time always moves more slowly when you are waiting for something, but five minutes were five minutes and, soon, another card appeared in my hand.

[ Akroma’s Vengeance ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451017) .

An awesome card. If I wanted to destroy all the machines in the city, kill everyone in it and stop any kind of ongoing effect of a quirk.

This said, it had the cycling ability, so I would discard it as soon as I could. More importantly, the river had finally appeared, cutting the open field almost in two, before meandering away in the distance, both ways.

The doctor and Miss Watanabe were open mouthed and completely surprised, while I simply stood there, smug. I think I had gained at least that much.

“...how long does the constructs last? ”Until I dismiss it. I don’t know if there is a time limit or not, but I only discovered this three days ago, so.”

The doctor hhmmed and hhaaa’d for a couple of moments more, before nodding and bringing out the paperwork necessary to the change of status in the quirk registry.

“Now, the only thing that you need is a name for it.”

A name for my power. I had literally no idea.

In the end, I went with something simple and misleading: ‘Card Game’.

“Then, it is done. Congratulations on your quirk.” 

“Thank you for your help.”

After that, we removed ourselves from the doctor’s office and went back to the car, Miss Watanabe already talking to me about being careful with my quirk, to not use it in public, to not hurt anyone…

I admit that I zoned out a bit, only nodding and making the right sounds in the right places, before the car lurched to a stop. The traffic was jammed.

Apparently a river had appeared in the middle of the road and the whole thing had cut out several streets, two train tracks and several houses. Nothing was actually damaged, it just had been displaced on one of the sides of the river.

“Alex? Did you know of this?” Miss Watanabe’s voice was extremely controlled, while she gripped the wheel tighter. I shook my head in denial.

“No idea, I swear.”

“Remove your quirk.  _ Now _ .”

“Yes.” I didn’t even try to discuss, it was obvious that I needed to resolve the whole situation.I turned my attention to Aminatou, before trying to talk to her mentally “I would like to close this game, please.”

She looked at me, before nodding nodding and raising her hands to the skies. A swarm of moths rose from her form, the cloud obscuring her, before moving forward like a wave.

The river disappeared and everything returned to normal.

**GAME END! NO WIN, NO LOSSES, NO DRAW!**

“Thank you. Now we’re going to school, I will give this paperwork to your teachers and you’ll discuss with them what you are going to do in regards of high school.”

I nodded.

*********************************

My homeroom teacher was… a typical teacher for the school and the setting. Basically, completely disinterested in what I was doing because I didn’t have a quirk. Until now.

“So, Tarou-kun” Tarou was the surname that the orphanage gave me, as I couldn’t remember my own “now that your quirk has emerged, where do you want to go? I have your previous application right here...” and a sheet of paper was collected from a pile of others, my name on top of it.

I had chosen a non-problematic school, something that I could enter without making too much effort. Now…

“Yes, I would like to change my preference. I want to go to Yuuei.”

The teacher stopped and looked at me, his eyes hard “Are you sure you aren’t overreaching? I admit that, on paper, your quirk seems strong, but just a strong quirk isn’t enough. You don’t have the control or the experience that other applicants have and trying to carelessly bridge that gap like that could be dangerous. Maybe you should try some other school? Yuuei isn’t the only hero school of the country.”

Unspoken: You are gonna fail and make me look bad.

I simply smiled, sunnily, and confirmed my choice in the most oblivious way possible. Too late to play the part of the concerned teacher.

*******************************************

I managed to reach Izuku for lunch, out in the garden. He seemed to be alone, no blond Pomeranian around to bother him or me with his angry yapping.

“Hullo. How is the day treating you? Did you see the message I sent?”

“H-hello. Yeah, I saw the messages, but only when I was in class, so I couldn’t answer. Sorry.” always polite, the greenette bowed to me a little. I waved my hand.

“Don’t worry, it happens. So, it’s okay if I join you in your training today? I kind of want to experiment with my power and the beach is isolated enough that I don’t have to worry about strangers.”

He seemed to dither for a moment, before nodding and opening his bento to eat. Apparently, he had already started his special diet. I poked my own belly and arms, before resolving to ask Yagi for help in the diet and exercise department.

I couldn’t be a hero while looking like a stick.

The sound of fireworks popping from the building attracted both mine and Izuku attention. Bakugou was shouting something to his accolades, sparks and smoke going out in his palms. I ignored him.

He was, after all, inconsequential.

**********************************************

Several months later and I had managed to gain some muscles, but mostly I toned myself. Living at the orphanage wasn’t a walk in the park and food and money were strict. There were a lot of things to take into consideration: clothing, textbooks, insurance, toys, food….

Still, I was in the best shape of my life. New life and old together. So, while I was humming to myself while moving towards the beach for the training, I felt myself dragged into another alley by the explosive Pomeranian.

“Finally got you, asshole.” his grin was savage and filled with anger. I blinked at him.

“Do I know you?” I did, of course. Still, his baffled expression was hilarious.

“Wha… I’m Bakugou Katsuki!” I mentally added a ‘Motherfucking’in the middle of his name, just for fun.

“Doesn’t ring any bell, sorry. Also, you have something on your hand.” I pointed at the hand that was holding my arm. He looked at it and I used the distraction to take a step back and free myself.

He looked like he had been slapped like a fish. Then his rage started mounting.

“Look, will you tell me why you acted like a total hooligan and dragged me in an alley? If this is your tsundere way to confess to me, I am sad to say that you are not my type and I am not interested.”

With people with his character, behaving like you were completely oblivious or simply casual was the equivalent of playing with a live bomb. Also a very good tactic to keep them out of balance.

I didn’t have the time for the bullshit that he would have spewed if he started talking. Mainly because I risked being late and Izuku would be worried and would come to search me and so he would find that Bakugou was threatening me.

I really didn’t want that.

“You… you…!”

I managed to render Bakugou Katsuki speechless in my second meeting with him. I was honestly impressed with myself.

Also, I was unsure of what to do right now. If I moved back, he would probably attack. If I tried to talk to him, he would - literally - explode. So The only thing that I could realistically do was…

“ **Daxos, the Returned** .”

I chose the commander, his form becoming more real and positioning behind me. After that, the seven cards of my starter hands appeared in my hand.

“What did you say?” Bakugou bellowed, smoke and sparks coming from his hands, enraged. He thought I was making fun of him. Which, yeah, I was. But not in the way he thought.

“I said: Daxos, the Returned.” I had absolutely no compunction in letting him know the name. It’s not like it would have helped him, after all.

On the contrary, it was helping me, as he wasn’t sure what to do about what I said. That gave me time to glance at the cards that I had drawn.

And, man, was it a bad hand. Like the situation wasn’t already bad enough.

[ Deathbringer Regent ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433042) ,  [ Orzhov Signet ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=460474) ,  [ Sanguine Bond ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433056) \- which was part of the combo I had in this specific deck-,  [ Black Market ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433030) ,  [ Evolving Wilds ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405218) ,  [ Shielded by Faith ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405375) and  [ Underworld Connection ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433060) .

If this was a game, I would mulligan it straight away. I blinked at that thought. Could I mulligan them away?

With a gesture from Daxos, the seven cards twisted around me and disappeared, before the sound of cards shuffling greeted my ears once again.

Seven cards appeared once again, but this time I knew that I had to choose one to send to the bottom of my Grimoire. Apparently, it worked on the new rules. Let’s see…

Shielded by Faith again. Swamp,  [ Plains ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405341) ,  [ Karlov of the Ghost Council ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405276) ,  [ Orzhov Basilica ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=460475) ,  [ Phyrexian Arena ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405337) and  [ Silent Sentinel ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451030) .

Only vaguely better. I sent Silent Sentinel to the bottom and finally returned my attention to Bakugou, who was watching me completely incredulous that I had the gall to be distracted when he was talking with me.

**GAME START!**

“LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!!!” His voice exploded in my ears, before I looked at him, my eyes turning steely.

“I don’t talk with would-be killers. Also, Swamp.”

“Wha..?” His expression of bafflement gave me enough time to land another swamp between me and him, before turning tail and running… again.

“SON OF A BIIII….!!!” And, boy, did he took it bad at being tricked the same way twice.

I ran down the street, before turning at the intersection and stopped, grabbing the wall to avoid slipping. Because the explosive pomeranian was in front of me, breath short and eyes blazing.

“Do you think that I am so stupid to get tricked by the same thing twice? Whatever you create doesn’t replace the space, just push it away. That means that the streets are still connected to the back alleys, you fucker.”

He was so smug. I had to pleasantly smile to avoid grinding my teeth to nothing “Well, congratulations. So?” and I waited. The more I drew it out, the more time I had to think of a way out that didn’t involve violence. Mainly because I wasn’t sure that I would either come out winning or killing.

“So? SO?! SO, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!” Aaaand he started shouting. Awesome.

“An orphan.” I cut him out before he had the time to gather another breath and continue his tirade. Also, he didn’t, apparently, expect my answer.

“An orphan that had been abandoned in another country entirely - right I’m a gaijin, too - just because I was quirkless. I lived my life dismissed, belittled and put aside because I didn’t have a power, because I wasn’t born here, because I didn’t have parents. Because people like you take great pleasure of lording their power over people like me.”

My voice was calm. Icy. Completely polite. And my eyes were blazing with fury, locking him in place.

“And you know what it’s worse? It’s that you  _ don’t care _ . I wonder what will happen if you become a hero and then, if you fight a criminal, bring a house down. But as long as the villain is stopped, there is no problem if someone die, right? After all, you need to  _ win _ .” The last word came out as a hiss, filled with venom.

It was enough to leave him speechless and wide eyed, watching me like I was something that he had never seen before.

“You need to grow up. Oh, and Plains.” Well, look at that. Apparently I had talked enough that my turn had come up again.

“Plains?” He was so confused, but before he could say anything else he got pushed back by the rolling plains of pale white grass.

I took the chance and ran, again.


	4. Chapter 4: Draw

While running towards the beach, I checked the new card.

[ Phyrexian Reclamation ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405340) . A nice enchantment, even if I seldom used it. It was simply more useful because it triggered Daxos’ power when it entered.

Also, I was way too rash with Bakugou. I should have tried to simply avoid him instead of exploding. All the same, it was a reality check that he should get before some other events happened.

Cough, Kamino Ward, cough.

The beach appeared in front of me with all its trash filled glory. I weaved between the piles of junk until I found Izuku in a clearing near the beach, raising old camion tires over his head before sending them flying towards the part of the beach where the camion that Yagi was using to bring away the trash was stationed.

“Izuku!” After three month of knowledge, I managed to get the permission of calling him with his name without honorifics. I had insisted that he called me with mine that he felt he had to reciprocate.

“Alex! You are late?” He said it like a question, cause I tried to be as punctual as possible. When I wasn’t for any reason, I sent a text to him.

“Yeah, sorry, I met someone on the road and I didn’t manage to remove myself from their presence after we exchanged a few words.”

All true, technically. I superimposed the Orzhov Basilica on the waterfront, right near the sea, let the plain bounce back in my hand and looked at the new card that I had just got.

[ Commander’s Sphere ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451155) . Nice one. Also, I realized that I could have summoned Karlov before bouncing back the plain.

Well, live and learn.

“Ah. Someone I know?” If there was one thing that could be said about Izuku, it’s that when he was training he would forget to be a nervous mess.

“Someone from school.” Well it was true.

“Ah.” Squat down to take the tire, rise with it until it reach above his head, then throw it. Repeat until the thing he was using as a weight was finally on the camion.

It was hypnotic, really.

“Who is helping you today?” He had also taken the habit of calling the commanders of my decks my helpers. Which was true, in a fashion. Still, it was probably from the way I referenced to them.

“Daxos.” “Ah.” Right at that moment, the Basilica appeared on the beach, the imposing construction shining in the sun, with it’s stained glass windows and pure white stone.

I also drew Terramorphic Expanse. When I summoned it, together with Evolving Wilds, it was always a show when it changed. Still, for right now, I preferred throwing the plain around the Basilica. Mostly for aesthetic sake.

After that, a filigree sphere appeared near me when I played Commander’s Sphere, a globe of light inside it. It was pretty light, as far as weight goes.

“So, any change in your quirk?” Lift, throw, bend, lift, throw “Nothing on my part. How’s the training?”

Izuku stopped, turned towards me smiling and flexed his arms, showing the muscles that were growing on them. I smiled back and nodded. After that, he started moving the tire once again.

My own training was way less intensive than his own. While he focused on building strength, endurance, speed and everything else - making him a well rounded individual with more focus on strength - my own was more focused on speed and endurance. My aim wasn’t to be a one hit K.O.

It was to outlast my opponents and give me the chance to ramp up my field, until I was all but unstoppable.

Not that it would always happen. Due to the inherently chaotic nature of my power, there was always the chance that I would get a bad hand and keep getting a bad hand. Still, the chance that I wouldn’t get  _ anything _ usable were very very small.

“Ah, you are both here. Excellent.” Yagi’s voice shook me out of my thoughts, making me turn towards him. He was drawing a circle in the sand with a stick, before gesturing at us to come towards him.

“We have spent enough time in training one on one. Now, I think it’s time that you two get some fighting experience. A sparring match to see where you are in terms of technical skills is warranted, I think.”

And, without giving us the chance to refuse, he started guiding us to stretch “While fighting it’s important to remember that...” while giving us several hints on how to fight more efficiently.

***********************************

“Ready?” Me and Izuku were on the two sides of the makeshift ring, ready to throw down when called. Quirk usage was prohibited, mainly because he wanted to see where we were in fighting skill. Adding the quirk would be inserted later, when he was sure that I wouldn’t kill Izuku by mistake.

Which was a very real possibility. I put the new card I had drawn out of my mind ( [ Burnished Hart ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373620) ) and focused on the fight.

“No hit under the belt, if I say stop you stop and the first one to land three hits win. Stepping out of the circle means one point to the opponent.” Very clear and simple. I could do this.

“GO!” Yagi’s hand fell and Izuku put up a guard, looking at me. I did the same.

Silence.

We stood there, studying each other for a moment, before I started moving to the side, shuffling slightly and trying to circle him. He did the same, only in the opposite direction.

So we ended up circling each other for a solid minute, under the fond and exasperated gaze of Yagi.

Yeah, in hindsight it was a bit funny.

Then, Izuku decided to take the first action. He moved forward slowly, prompting me to take two steps back, before stopping. I was already at the border of the circle. I had to move to the side, so to not get completely closed off, but he didn’t relent in his advance.

Only one thing to do, now.

I advanced too, guard up. We met a little off center, thanks to his early start, and we started exchanging a couple of cautious blows. Parry, parry, dodge, dodge, dodge, try to strike…

Then I made a mistake, I lowered my guard by a fraction and then I fell to the ground, wheezing and trying not to puke.

Izuku had managed to capitalize on my moment of weakness and had delivered a punch to my flank. It felt like being hit by a sack of bricks.

“Alex! Are you ok?!” His worried expression was on the verge of tears, so I just nodded and raised a thumb with the hand that wasn’t busy covering my mouth.

“Point to Izuku!”

And that set the pace for the rest of the match, really.

********************************************

Of three sparring matches at five points each, I managed to score the overall number of six points. An average of two points per fight.

It was honestly pathetic, but I was really not a fighter. I was more of the planner type.

Also, I thank whatever out there that my powers didn’t require me to fight directly. Still, ouch.

I would have serious bruises later on. Lucky me that I had started to keep a bruise cream near my bed, thanks to previous training accidents. I would have to apply it later tonight.

“Well, that could have gone better for you, Young Alex. Young Midoriya, excellent! Just remember to look out for the overextending you do when you hit with your fist.” Yagi had kept a constant stream of suggestions and corrections throughout the matches.

“You can take ten minutes of rest, then start again with the tires. Young Alex, I think that it’s the time to try to see how long you can keep your quirk activated before it becomes too much.”

“Really?” He nodded. I smiled and shot him a thumbs up. And I turned towards the Basilica. I still hadn’t played anything from before the sparring, so I still had the same hand. Mmhh…

Terramorphic Expanse was good. I threw it out on the side of the plain, watching with a smile how the chaos simply manifested: a land covered in fire, water, plains, swamps and forests, storms overhead and heavy rain. It was awesome to see.

“Ok. Burnished Hart, appear.”

The bronze hart manifested in a ray of divine light while my Basilica and the swamp turned grey. After that, I drew from the plains and the Commander’s Sphere to summon Karlov too. The ghostly, portly man appeared with a sort of quiet dignity, looking at the place with a faint air of disgust.

After that, I passed my turn and instantly tapped the Expanse to call another swamp under my command.

“It’s always interesting to see it happen.” Yagi’s voice came unexpectedly from my side, making me turn. He was looking at the Expanse, that was slowly changing and turning in the swamp.

“Yeah.” Also, I discovered a good reason to not go and explore that place. When in its flavor text said things about past, future and present… it wasn’t just words on a card.

[ Bastion Protector ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405140) was a really good card to draw, especially in a commander. And with Shielded by Faith I could all but guarantee that both my commander and the one that kept it alive and indestructible would stay alive.

A really nice combo, especially if we counted on Daxos’ power when Enchantments were used…

Summoning her on the ground manifested the armor-clad woman with the shield and sword. At the moment it wasn’t really needed, but better being prepared.

Passing the turn and using my last three mana to sacrifice the Burnished Hart and to turn the surrounding sand into plains, I idly waited for Izuku to finish his training, using this time to study. I had to be prepared for the written test beyond the practical one.

And Izuku helped me with some subjects when I didn’t understand something. Honestly, it made me feel a bit guilty when I couldn’t do anything for him back.

After the turn was returned to me, I observed the new card (Underworld Connection), before sighing and stopping playing anything. The main problem with my power - beyond the extensive modification that it made to the surroundings, temporary as they may be - was that my creatures could only stay in two places: either near me or on one of the lands that I had summoned.

And, while they were on one of the lands, they couldn’t simply reappear to my side, they had to pass the distance between their starting point and me. Like anyone else.

It was a thing that I had to keep in mind.

***************************************

**GAME END! NO WIN, NO LOSSES, NO DRAW!**

So, a couple of interesting tidbits.

First, I discovered that I could keep a game running for three days before it closed by itself. After that, independently from when I played my last turn, the whole thing would shut down.

Second, Bakugou either didn’t listen to me, decided to not care or ignored what I said, because he kept trying to corner me.

It made miracles for my evasion training, that was for sure But I was still human and sooner or later, I wouldn’t manage to lose him and I would have to treat with what would happen.

Eh. What happens will happen.

And happen it did. One and a half months before the entrance exam the blond managed to corner me after school. Damn.

“Finally got you.” At least he wasn’t spewing profanities? It’s something.

“Do I...” “Drop the act. I know you are hanging around that useless Deku.” Well, that game was over, it seemed. Oh well. I have other cards in my sleeve.

Pun  **fully** intended.

“You. Me. If you win, I’ll let you go.”

He was almost monosyllabic, but I understood what he meant fairly well and the way his hands were smoking didn’t fill me with confidence. Still, with people like him you can’t let him see that you aren’t always sure of yourself.

“First of all, remove your hands from my person, then we talk like civilized people.” And I stared at him. He stared back.

A long minute ticked by, neither one of us willing to back down, but in the end he removed his hand from my shoulder.

“Second. If I accept to duel with you, what guarantee do I have that you won’t go back on your word?”

THAT sent him into a rage, his palm sparking and popping in his anger. Apparently he took offense to his honor quite seriously.

After he had spewed several curses, I managed to sigh and nod.

“Very well, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.” That almost sent him in another profanity-laced situation, but I managed to stop him before he started.

“Then we fight on one of my lands. Less worry of damaging something.”

That brought him to a full stop, eyeing me with suspicion. He was probably thinking that I was trying to trick him in some way. He was absolutely correct. I wouldn’t cheat in the game, but in real life? If you aren’t stacking the deck in your favor, then you aren’t even trying.

And yes, that pun was also intended.

“Fine!” He threw his hands in the air, exasperated “But you get Deku to see me punch you in the dirt! So that nobody can say anything when I win! Understood?”

I nodded at that, placid as always.

So, he wanted Izuku to see, mh? Probably some way to reinforce the fact that he wouldn’t be able to become a hero even if he developed a quirk, seeing that it was my situation as well.

Well, then. IF that was the case I absolutely have to win. Now, what deck to use? I needed something with a good opening…

Inalla. It was the only one that could actually perform satisfactorily in early game. Aminatou could as well, but it was a bit harder to do, mainly to the fact that it based her playstyle to delay the opponent and advantage me.

Daxos was.. mmhh.

No. Too risky. I didn’t want to kill him.

Inalla was it.

“We’ll fight in the weekend, when school’s out. So that we can fight fresh. One round, the first to faint, tap out or surrender lose. Are these terms okay with you?” I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to talk.

Bakugou didn’t even say anything, he just extended his hand for a handshake. I gladly extended mine and we shook on it.

Now, how to defeat him?

********************************************

The first thing I did that night was to call Izuku, of course. Beyond needing his presence to the fight, I wanted to brainstorm possible tactics to employ against him and he was a genius in strategy.

“Izuku? Hello, am I disturbing you?” I had to keep my voice low because of all the other kids at the orphanage, but I could still talk to the phone.

**“No, I was just rewriting a couple of notebooks. What’s the problem?”**

Mmhh… how do I put this? Better use the band aid approach and remove the whole thing in one go.

“So, this is gonna sound strange, buuut… Bakugou managed to corner me earlier today and kinda-sorta forced me into agreeing to duel him. This weekend.”

For the record, it was a Thursday evening.

**“You… what? I’m sorry, there must have been a connection problem. **

**I could swear that you said that Kacchan had challenged you to a duel.”**

“No, no. You heard correctly. And he wants you there.”

Silence. I could hear breathing on the line, slowly starting to pick up in pace and shortness.

**“What? Why? When? Where?”**

Mmhhh… I’m starting to think that he is going into panic. Well, let’s reveal everything now and then see if I can calm him later.

“Yeah, a duel. Because he wants to show me that even with a quirk I am still a nobody in front of his power, I think. As for when and where, this Saturday morning - or mid morning, we never said the specific hour - and on one of my lands to keep the damage to a minimum.”

Izuku was starting to hyperventilate, I could hear his breath getting shorter and shorter on the phone.

“Izuku? Hey, Izuku, calm down, ok? I can defeat him. If I get the upper hand fast, I can defeat him. You don’t have to worry too much, okay?”

**“IF you get the upper hand! Your quirk is very powerful, but it’s also really random!**

**You cannot be sure that he won’t manage to knock you out before you can knock ** ** _him_ ** ** out!**

**And aren’t all of your attacks still lethal?!”**

He was starting to go into hysterics and I had literally zero idea on how to stop him. Mmhh…. Maybe…

“Well, true. Still, I have a couple of aces in my sleeve that will give him a nasty surprise. Plus I have the advantage, technically, as he doesn’t know my quirk.”

**“He doesn’t need to know your quirk to knock you out!!”**

Oohhh, boy. This will take a while.

******************************************

Friday, I hunted down Bakugou at school and clarified with him the exact hour of our duel. I didn’t want him to appear at the decided place at seven in the morning and claim that I had cheated when I appeared at eleven.

I like to sleep in when I can, sue me.

For the rest of the afternoon I trained with Izuku, mostly on what to do and what to avoid.

He had half a notebook filled with observations on Bakugou and I couldn’t wait to read it. True, a lot of early things were from when they were children, but it was still a lot of information.

Bakugou’s quirk was based on sweat. That meant that he had to sweat a lot to create his explosion. As this was still before U.A., he didn’t have his gauntlet, so that was something.

I had to worry only about what he was able to produce on the moment. Beyond that, there was the option of either tiring him out or drying him. As I didn’t have any desert on hand, salt water and mountains would have to do.

Plus the water would make harder for him to create his explosion, as it would dilute the nitroglycerine.

He was fast and agile, so that was something I had to look out for: I still wasn’t the best at quick reaction. As I said, I am a planner.

The only thing I was regretting right now was that I couldn’t stack my own deck. It would be so easy to defeat him, then…

Not matter, I had to focus.

Saturday morning came and I moved towards a spot in the woods slightly outside the city, where no one that wasn’t actively searching for us would find us. I hope.

I met with Izuku halfway, before calling on Inalla, choosing my deck on the way. I wanted to have the chance to think about my strategy before starting.

Ouch.

Darksteel Ingot, one  [ Mountain ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433236) , one Evolving Wilds, three swamps and  [ Command Tower ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433174) .

This wasn’t a good thing. Sure I could throw Evolving Wilds out there and turn it into another land, maybe an Island, before throwing out the mountain as another choice, but it could backfire on me. On the other hand, I could Mulligan right here and now.

Was I going to risk it?

Looking at Izuku, I revealed to him what I had drawn and trusted in his decision.

After a moment, he nodded “It could work. If you use the evolving wilds to gain a bit of time, then you can use the mountain to create some space. After that, if he manages to reach you before you get anything good, just use Command Tower either as a decoy or to create more space.”

I looked at him and decided to trust his thinking. Let’s hope it will work.

In what looked like minutes, we were at the place. Bakugou was already there and pacing like an animal in a cage, so wired up that when he saw us he almost snarled with impatience.

“It was time, you assholes! You are almost late!” “Almost it’s not late. So, are you ready? I fear that it will take me a couple of minutes to prepare the place.” Before he could do anything more than open his mouth, I simply cut him out “It was rhetorical. Either wait or the whole thing is off.”

He didn’t have much more to say than that, beyond glaring at me. I shrugged and went to work. Firstly, tossing the Evolving wilds to the side. Then, passing the turn, sacrificing it and turning it into an island.

The rock at the center of the lake wasn’t exactly well accepted, especially because it was a bit out of our way to reach it - well his way to reach it - so I waved him out and nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, give me a minute, ok? Every now and then my quirk does things like this.” Which, again, it was technically true.

Next card: another island. That wasn’t good.

I kept to my word, however, and looked at Bakugou “Ready?” “I was born ready! Now hurry the fuck up!”

I shrugged and threw a mountain between me and him.


	5. Chapter 5: Main Phase

“Go!” My shout was only a moment before a wall of rocks and dirt rose between me and him. It wasn’t a real mountain or anything, more like a very tall hill, but it was still a pretty big obstacle.

**OFFICIAL GAME START!**

Enough to allow me to slip into the rocky terrain that littered the base of the mountain and start to listen for him, hoping that he will move something or explode. And, indeed, faint explosions can be heard, before they died down. Apparently he decided to keep his approach silent.

But I already knew that he wasn’t an idiot. I had to plan around him.

A couple of really big rocks were enough to give me shelter and cover as I simply stood there, waiting, listening and scanning my surroundings.

I was hoping to see him before he could see me. For that, I had chosen a place surrounded by gravel - that, thanks to us being on a mountain, it was almost everywhere - and planned my next move.

Another card joined my hand before I heard the sound of shoes scraping the gravel. Unluckily, it was yet another island. Still, this could work…

When I heard the sounds of steps coming nearer and nearer, I waited until I could see the spiky shadow of Bakugou on the ground, before superimposing a swamp on the ground, again between me and him. The whole thing expanded like black tar, pushing him away - again - and revealing to him my position.

But he had to pass the swamp to reach me, so…

“YOU FUCKING COWARD! STOP HIDING AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!”

Yeah, no. I turned tail and moved to another place, leaving him behind. I also used the time to tap all three lands and play the Darksteel Ingot in my hand, just to be sure. I could use it as a bludgeon, at the very least.

Sadly, this time I didn’t manage the full five minutes. I barely managed one and a half, before the angry pomeranian reached me. He had used his explosion to propel himself forward, avoiding most of the swamp. Still, some of the muck clinged to his pants.

“Found you.” His voice was reduced to a hiss filled with malevolence, while his palms were already smoking.

“Yup. It took you a bit. Performance problems?” I shouldn’t egg him on, really. But it’s hard to resist…

He didn’t say anything else, instead preferring to simply dart forward, hands already extended and exploding. I had to move back fast, as fast as I could without slipping on the naked rock and gravel that was underneath my feet.

It was harder than I thought.

The next minute was filled with me dodging frantically, while he kept advancing using his explosion to block most of my avenue of retreat.

I think I said it before, but I’m not really a fighter. More of a planner, really.

Still, it was an interesting situation - and I understood the implication - when he managed to hit me.

**LIFE COUNTER: 20/18**

After the hit, my new turn became available to me immediately.

It felt like everything had stopped. This… This changed things. considerably.

First of all, the new card was something that I could, finally, use: Puppeteer Clique. It wouldn’t create the maximum effect that it should have but still good enough. But before it…

Bakugou was advancing towards me, already sure that he would win. I dropped an island between me and him, pushing him away while I remained at the rocky outcropping at the center. After that, I summoned my only creature, using the Darksteel Ingot as second source of black.

Defender: get.

Also, it was strange to see what was basically a scarecrow made of old clothes controlled by small fairy-like creatures dragging it around. Strange and a bit funny.

The sword and the spear they were using, though, weren’t funny. They were, in fact very sharp. And very dangerous.

Still, it was time to wait again. Moving to the higher point of the island, I tried to see if I could spot the presence of my opponent. Unless he swam all the way here, he would have to use his explosions to propel himself forward.

Ah. Here he is. He was trying to fly - still not that good - towards me. I suppose that a little trick was in order…

As quietly as I could, I moved down and towards the other side of the island, waiting to hear the explosions coming near. Once I could hear them well enough, I started running away on top of the water. Leaving my monster behind.

Let’s see if he liked his surprise…

***********************************************   
  


Well, he fell in my trap. He attacked the monsters the first moment he saw it, blasting it apart. That only made it return thanks to his persist ability, although fairly weaker, but also gave me my turn instantly.

[ Pyramid of the Pantheon ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=426937) .

Yeah, that was… that was… something. I guess. Still, it was a good place to hide. Mmhh…

First of all, let’s drop a swamp…. that way. Then. I’m gonna summon the pyramid… around here.

And, oohhhh boy. If I thought that the lands were impressive, the Pyramid was something else. It wasn’t full size, no, but it was still similar to the mountain: something that was undeniably there.

I also activated its ability instantly, giving it a brick counter and gaining one mana that I couldn’t use for anything, but it was an effect of it, so…

I also felt when Bakugou destroyed my monster, as a sharp prick of pain in my head signaled its demise.

LIFE COUNTER: 20/17

Thanks for the turn. And thanks for  [ Mercurial Chemister ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433112) , even if I had to wait to summon him… for now. I needed two more turns.

So, move towards the pyramid, drop an Island on the other side of the pyramid, tap it to put a brick counter on it, pass the turn.

And then wait.

This game of cat and mouse was starting to get tiring, if I was honest. I had trained this last eight or so months, but Bakugou had trained for years prior and he was a genius. The only reason why I was even managing to keep him at bay it was because it was what my power was basically made for.

Until I could bring out the big guns, anyway.

  
Slow ramp it’s a bitch. Especially if you get almost all lands at the start.

But it happens. Let’s make the best of the situation. I finally heard the sounds of explosions coming from the pyramid, prompting me to start to run in the other direction. My turn came abruptly, as I wasn’t sure that five minutes had passed, but ok. A new card was a new card.

“Oh.”

[ Marchesa, the Black Rose ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433109) .

She was a powerhouse, if used correctly. Could I use it correctly right now? I could certainly try. But first, the other thing I wanted to do.

Drop a swamp behind me, then tap mountain and the new swamp to power up the pyramid and get a red mana. tap two islands and the two remaining swamps and summon Mercurial Chemister. Tap Darksteel Ingot to create a token of him. Tap blue, tap token and draw two cards.

Crosis’s Charm and  [ Apprentice Necromancer ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433029) . Not optimal, but not bad, either. Speaking about not optimal situations, I could hear the explosions coming nearer. Better move away.

I ran back towards the island at the center of all this chaotical arrangement of lands, panting, before circling left and moving towards the pyramid. I was keeping the explosions at a distance, hoping to see if… yes. Here he was. And…

Well, that explosion was a bit bigger than I thought it would be. Why… right. Mercurial Chemister. I had left him back there by error.

Still, his attack was enough to net me another turn, so that was good. And my monster was still alive, which was double good.

Harbinger of the Tides, useful. Especially if he could drench Bakugou down to the bone. But let’s go by grades. First of all, once I reached the island, I dropped the Command Tower and let it grow under my feet, bringing me upwards. High enough that I could see where he was battling against my wizard.

Let’s avoid more explosions.

First, tap my Chemister, removing it from the fight. Draw two.

[ Izzet Boilerworks ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=456237) and  [ Worn Powerstone ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=451185) . Good cards, but I had already dropped a land now. Maybe next round. As for the powerstone, it could wait right now.

So, where I was? Ah, right. tap two islands, summon Harbinger of the Tides. Tap swamp, summon copy token. After that, tap three swamps: two go and activate the pyramid, which give me a blue mana. The third give me black. Tap mountain and the Darksteel Ingot, get the red and another one that I need.

Marchesa, come to the fore!

Also, the pyramid was now fully charged. Good. And, to conclude my turn, I’m gonna send the copy token of the Harbinger to battle against Bakugou.

He wanted a fight? Let’s give him one.

**********************************

The Harbinger copy managed to do some damage, drenching Baku in the cold water of my island, but he now knew where I was. No matter, I had recalled the Chemister towards me, so that was good. After the fight, he was already moving towards me, but he had to stop in front of the sea that was around my new command position (the Command Tower, fittingly), eyeing the other Harbinger in the sea.

He also looked a bit out of breath. And shivering.

Only a bit, though.

My turn was heralded by the shining top of the pyramid blazing to light with golden rays. The new card was something that I would use against villains, not against Bakugou.

No matter how tempted I was.

So, I slotted the  [ Polymorphist's Jest ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433022) back into my hand and started working on the combinations once again. First, I tapped my pyramid to get the three mana I needed to summon the Worn Powerstone.

After that, tap one island, tap Chemister, get two cards.

Island and Swamp. Par for the course, obviously. Whatever. Let’s see…

Tap that swamp there, that island out there and another swamp, summon Apprentice Necromancer and copy it. Tap swamp, sacrifice copy and summon back to the field the Puppeteer Clique. Put in play the Izzet boilerworks sending back to my hand the swamp I had tapped before.

After I had decided all of this, the whole thing happened in a flurry of activity. The rays from the pyramid shone silver, before turning into wysps of energy orbiting around me, attracting the attention of Bakugou towards my presence. The three wysps turned into a tear shaped stone that blazed with power.

After that, to the ground in front of the tower, a zombie dressed as a mage came up from the shadows and the ground, before another one appeared near him. The copy took out a knife and planted it into his own heart, turning into black sludge that brought back the clique of sprites, along with their scarecrow and weapons.

One of the swamps vanished into nothing, while the sound of steam and boiling machines could be heard under my feet, in the basement of the tower. After that, I looked at Bakugou.

“Attack!” And my Harbinger and the Clique moved forwards towards him.

I saw how the fight developed from my position on high. The way the Harbinger used the water as just another limb, the way the clique darted in and out of his guard to scour slashing cuts on his body.

The way Bakugou screamed before literally exploding with rage.

**“DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”**

And the way that explosion was enough to kill both of my creatures. Well, the clique reappeared near me, so I was okay with that, even as weakened as it was.

After that assault, though, he was clearly badly damaged and badly winded. But he found me with his blood red gaze and stared at me with such hatred that I could feel it from where I was.

Then, he simply threw himself towards me, his hands blazing and leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

Before he could reach me, the Apprentice Necromancer threw himself out from a window of the tower and tackled him down, making him stop.

Well worth the pain that I felt when the apprentice died.

**LIFE COUNTER: 20/16**

It was my turn again and the new card was…

Terramorphic Expanse.

Yeah, I was pretty deep in mana screw. Oh, whatever.

I dropped down the swamp that I had bounced back in my hand earlier, turning the ground around the tower into muck, before drawing two more cards thanks to Chemister.

A mountain and… Oh, now we’re talking!

[ Etherium-Horn Sorcerer ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433103) !

I looked at Bakugou, who was cursing and trying to get out of the swamp, before snapping my fingers and tapping the Pyramid, the Powerstone and the Boilerworks.

Six mana flew towards me, before coalescing and turning into a towering minotaur with magic shining around him. The seventh mana created a copy. And then, in an explosion of light, the cards started to appear all around me, glowing and floating in a nimbus of light.

Well, it would happen if I didn’t instantly found a card that I could call.  [ Fellwar Stone ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433142) . It was pretty useless, but all the same. It was kind of pretty.

Still, the copy of the sorcerer exploded in light, too, activating his cascade effect. Body Double.

I turned him into the Harbinger of Tides in my Graveyard. And, after that, I smiled.

“Full on attack.”

My weakened Clique was the first to buzz towards Bakugou, like a swarm of angry hornets, prompting him to turn and attack them with a vengeance. While he was busy with them, my Sorcerer and Marchesa raised their scepter and hands, respectively, and rays of magic fell on him. My Clique got destroyed, but…

After the attack, Bakugou was laying there, defeated. And passed out.

**LETHAL LAST HIT? N/Y**

**>N**

**OFFICIAL GAME END! WIN! ONE OBJECTIVE COMPLETED, TWO OBJECTIVE REMAINING!**

Everything around me, everything I had brought to reality with my powers vanished into nothing, leaving only me and Izuku in front of a passed out Bakugou.

Several cuts and bruises littered his form, his palms were dry and cracked and he had deep wrinkles around his eyes and lips.

“I think we should bring him to a medic or something.”

Izuku nodded “Yeah...”

And then he simply went to Bakugou and hauled him up in a princess carry. Like he weighed nothing.

I blinked at that, before stopping him and snapping a quick picture with my phone. That was an image that had to be immortalized forever.

I also had to take a couple of minutes to breath and not hyperventilate when I managed to understand that I could have killed him.

Apparently, I have a non lethal setting. Good to know.

**********************************************

The trek back to the city was interesting, so to speak. Most people were solidly in the negation zone, but still, bringing an unconscious boy with us was… well, a bit of an ordeal.

While most people were busy with their own lives, some stopped and commented on our group. And, seeing that Izuku kept blushing and stuttering in his answer, it fell to me to create excuses for the fact that Bakugou was being carried like a princess.

He fainted and we are bringing him to the hospital.

He overtrained.

He has fainting spells often, we are just returning home.

No sir, she’s not a boy. She’s my sister. Are you saying that my sister look like a guy?

Those two are boyfriends and he fell asleep because of too much emotion when he discovered that he wouldn’t have to go to America for school.

He was the victim of child’s quirk, nothing much. What quirk? A sleep one.

He found that he was in an arranged marriage and tried to escape from his house, so we are going to hide us in our home.

Oh, him? He’s a doll, a prototype we are trying to create to work as a nurse.

And so on and so forth. I had a lot of fun trying to see what I could say before people stopped believing me. Sadly, I didn’t manage to find the limit before we reached where Bakugou lived. I went to ring the doorbell before gesturing towards Izuku.

When the door opened, it was to a man, a bit taller than both of us, with a small moustache and brown hair fashioned in spikes.

“Yes? Who… oh, Izuku-kun. It’s been awhile. How are you? Midoriya-san?” “A-ah, hello Bakugou-san. I’m well, thank you. Mother is also well, thank you for your concern.”

He smiled and nodded “I’m happy to hear that. But… why are you holding Katsuki in your arms?” “He was training and he must have exaggerated or something like that, because we found him like this.” The grenette said, bowing slightly, before passing Bakugou to Bakugou-san.

“Thank you for bringing him home. I would invite you inside, but with him in this state...” and he let the sentence trail out, clearly knowing his own son.

“Do-Do not worry, Bakugou-san. I need to go, mom is waiting. Thank you for your time.” And he bowed, followed a moment later by me.

After a few more pleasantries - while Bakugou-san checked his son, he wasn’t that kind of father - we managed to get away and I was invited - not for the first time - to Izuku’s house.

It was nice to be there, so I was always happy. I had to call the orphanage, of course, but I was happy to do so. Home cooked meals were way better than the food there.

Through no fault of them, of course. As I already said, money, bureaucracy, yadda yadda.

***********************************

The day after, while at school, I was waiting for Izuku to reach me at our usual place at lunch. I wanted to know what Bakugou had done.

Petty of me? Yes.

Did I care that it was petty? No.

He was, at this time, a spoiled and overly prideful brat. By no fault of his own, true. Still, a lesson in humility it was something that it would do him a lot of good.

I had my doubts that it would work, though. Pretty sure that he would either accuse me of being a coward for using strategy in our duel or something similar to that.

Ehhh..

“Izuku!” Oh, here he was. He seemed… worried? No, thoughtful.

Mmhhh….

“What happened? Did Bakugou do something to you?” I was ready to send that photo to everyone in school if he did. It should be a good bargaining chip if he bullied Izuku again. Especially now, that we were so close at the U.A. entry test.

“No, no. Kacchan...” he stopped, looking down, a worried look on his face.

“What? Kacchan what?!”

This suspension was killing me.

“Kacchan… Kacchan was...”

He raised his head and looked straight into my eyes before speaking.


	6. Chapter 6: Battle Phase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, this chapter... DID NOT want to get written. It was like pulling teeth, I swear. Sorry for the wait.

“Kacchan was… subdued.” His voice was trembling a bit, like he was unsure of what he was saying, like he didn’t believe what he saw, but he still saw it.

I stopped at that comment. Subdued, Bakugou Katsuki? Maybe I’m a pessimist, but that didn’t promise nothing good. I was pretty sure that it was something really bad, actually.

“...I can’t imagine Bakugou being subdued, of all things. Are you sure?” It’s not like I didn’t believe him, it’s just that it was really hard to believe.

His nod had all the gravitas of a funeral toll.

*****************************************

When I saw Bakugou, I discovered that Izuku was right. He was subdued.

Well, he was subdued for the first minute I had him in my sight, before he turned and looked at me. Then, he wasn’t subdued anymore.

No. After seeing me, he was  _ simmering _ .

And that made me want to gulp down the fear that he had gripped my throat, but I managed to keep it in check and simply cock my head to the side, looking at him with a completely neutral look on my face.

Well, as neutral as I could make it.

We stood there for a few moments, before a throng of people passed between us and I used that distraction to move away.

The Entrance Exam was getting nearer and I needed to prepare. I had to think about which deck to use for it and, especially, at what time of the day start… or if I could start a day before, to really maximize my chances.

Not three days, too risky. If I calculated the time wrongly, the game could close before the end of the exam.

Which was a no-no, of course.

***********************************************

On the day of the exam I went directly to school. Izuku had asked to see each other directly there. I sent him a text message while I rode the train before pocketing the phone and focusing on what I could remember.

So, robots. I had prepared myself, a bit. I had started a game yesterday, to give myself time to ramp up, so to speak. I had to fill the beach with several different lands, but the best option was…

Daxos.

I couldn’t prepare as much as I wanted, but his powers were absolutely necessary. The skill to create spirit soldiers anywhere on the battlefield meant that I could leave him on the beach and simply spawn one in front of me during the exam.

It also meant that I would need a lot of mana. The only problem was that the day before the exam everything conspired against me.

Chores that I wouldn’t be exempted, studying the last things for the written exam, time to move between the orphanage and the beach and vice versa, the time limit of when I had to go back…

In the end, I only gained twelve hands worth of time. A mere hour of preparation.

It would have to be enough.

Let’s recap what I got:

_ ****************************Flashback************************** _

_ Silent Sentinel,  _ [ _ Deadly Tempest _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405194) _ ,  _ [ _ To the Slaughter _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=409889) _ ,  _ [ _ Temple of the False God _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405414) _ ,  _ [ _ Orzhov Guildgate _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405331) _ ,  _ [ _ Vivid Marsh _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=433224) _ and  _ [ _ Secluded Steppe _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=464194) _ . _

_ Not the best opening hand, but not all that bad. Starting with the lands that needed to enter tapped, I summoned the gate, drew Plains, summoned Vivid Marsh, drew Vizkopa Guildmage - my answer if one specific half of my Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond combo got destroyed - and summoned Secluded Steppe. _

_ Three turns and no Enchantments. Let’s hope that something would change in the meantime… _

_ Fourth turn start, I draw Shielded by Faith. Finally things start to come around. Drop Plains, summon Daxos, wait five minutes and draw again. _

[ _ Spirit Bonds _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=383395) _ . Two enchantments ready and it was only the fifth turn. Summon Temple of the False God, tap it to draw two generic mana, tap steppe, plains and Orzhov Guildgate, summon Shielded by Faith on Daxos and Spirit Bonds.  _

_ Sixth turn, I draw another plains. Not good enough, but it could be worse. Summon and wait, calling the spirits right now would be useless to me. _

_ Seventh and Eighth turn: Swamp and  _ [ _ Obzedat, Ghost Council _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366246) _ . Only one was actually useful for me right now, but the other could be useful late on. _

_ I hoped. _

_ Ninth,  _ [ _ Exquisite Blood _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=240134) _ ! And that was the third Enchantment on the ground. It also meant that I could, theoretically, summon Vizkopa Guildmage and activate her effect, to completely destroy everything. _

_ ...which I wouldn’t do, of course. _

_ … _

_ Really! _

_ Moving on… _

_ Tenth, Barren Moor. Not particularly good, but I was kind of already pretty ready by now. Eleventh, it was the jackpot: Underworld Connections. _

_ I enchanted my Plains, before activating it instantly. _

** _LIFE COUNTER: 20/19_ **

_ The feeling of my life ebbing low was, as always, strange, but it rewarded me with Sorin, Grim Nemesis. Which… wasn’t exactly useful to me right now, but it was a good ace in the hole if I ever needed one. _

_ Even if I was a bit iffy on summoning him. I wasn’t sure what would happen. _

_ Last turn of preparation,  _ [ _ Deathbringer Regent _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=394532) _ .Worse than useless, unless I wanted to literally kill everyone. Underworld Connections gave me  _ [ _ Thought Vessel _ ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405422) _ , which was nice. _

** _LIFE COUNTER: 20/18_ **

_ Sadly, I had to catch the train unless I wanted to be late back at the orphanage so. I had to conclude there. _

_ ****************Flashback End****************************** _

I woke up this morning with another plains in my mental hand but with no way to play it. I had to wait for the exam.

I could use it to… nahh, it was unsportsmanlike. On the other hand, if I had to save someone from a robot…

Mmmhhh…

**“HELLO, LITTLE LISTENERS! CAN I HAVE A OH YEAAHH?!”**

Oh, Present Mic. Exam starting, then. Better pay attention.

…

How big is, exactly, Yuuei? I was sent to another arena entirely, completely different from Izuku or Bakugou. We were almost ready to start, so it would be better if I started stacking the deck in my favour.

“Daxos. Summon.”

While the others gave me strange looks, I ignored them and waved my hands in front of me: three creatures, thanks to me sinking nine mana of my ten in Daxos’ skill, appeared in front of me, their bodies half made of night sky and stars.

A  [ Spirit ](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/magicthegathering/images/b/b0/SpiritC152.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/161?cb=20151215232219&path-prefix=it) . Well, to be precise, a Token Enchantment Creature - Spirit. Sad that their appearance didn’t trigger Daxos’ skill, but they were already 4/4 and taller and beefier than me. And basically everyone else around me.

Speaking of, they looked pretty unsettled at their appearance. Interesting…

**“AND, GO!”**

I expected this. Honestly, I knew this scene, so I was ready. Me and the spirit moved forwards with a burst of speed, until I noticed that my spirits were faster than me, so I hitched a lift on one of them, moving towards the robots. Before we met, I tapped the remaining plains and drew another card. As long as Thought Vessel was in play, after all, I didn’t have to worry about hand size.

**LIFE COUNTER: 20/17**

Still, losing life wasn’t pleasurable. At all. On the other hand,  [ Haunted Cloak ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=410023) .

...

Fifty/fifty.

I passed the turn, moments before the first robot collided with me. It… didn’t last long.

It did damage one of my spirits, but the token simply reached with his(?) hands towards it and ripped the head away. Easily.

Well, good to know that. Even if they appeared insubstantial, they were as strong as I thought.

…

Better beef them up a bit more.

Thanks to the robots’ attacks, I gained another turn instantly, granting me Corpse Augur. Useless. But the ten mana I had again to my disposition allowed me to spawn three more spirits, that I sent around the fake city to destroy the robots.

And save the others, if needed. I was no killstealer.

...I wasn’t a  _ frequent  _ killstealer. But, hey, I can say that I didn’t do it on purpose, once I gave my spirits the order, they acted pretty much independently, even if I was generally aware of their presence.

I drew the  [ Necromancer’s Covenant ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405317) and my spirits counts rose to nine. I also didn’t play it, just because I didn’t want a zombie apocalypse. I got  [ Fallen Ideal ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405227) and eleven spirits, now a nice 5/5, even bigger and beefier than before.

Plus, I attached the Aura on myself, getting flying and leaving the spirit I was using as a carriage free to fight.

After I got  [ Mesa Enchantress ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405298) , I wanted to stop drawing cards, but I… couldn’t really. Every time a robot attacked me, my turn got renewed automatically and a new card appeared.

That did me the chance to summon even more spirits: Fourteen, Seventeen, Twenty…

[ Tainted Field ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405410) ,  [ Diabolic Revelation ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=278196) ...

Then the ground shook and I was surrounded by a veritable crowd of specters made of stars. All of my tokens where around me, defending me from the colossal Zero Pointer.

About him, I only had one thing to say.

“Go.”

Twenty spirits fell on it with a fury that belonged to a greek epic. Two died.

The robot?  _ Completely obliterated. _

And that was that. Exam concluded, I went back to the orphanage.

**GAME END! NO WIN, NO DRAW, NO LOSS!**

Apparently, a hour of preparation was enough.

*******************************************************

After that, the only thing that remained to do was waiting. One week of it, specifically.

I was… relaxed. Honestly, I kinda knew that I had passed. I was  _ sure _ of it.

And yet, some part of me was terrified of being refused. Maybe the way I went about it was wrong. Maybe I should have done things more personally, chose another approach. Maybe summoning more monsters instead of just relying on the tokens…

I mean, my approach was definitely the most efficient one. That must count for something, no?

Yet, the wait was like sandpaper to my nerves. Izuku was the same, while the only one that appeared completely relaxed was Bakugou.

Of course.

On the other hand, that could have been a front. I wasn’t exactly privy to his inner mind mechanism and, honestly, I didn’t care enough - at this point in time - to be.

Finally, after a week that started well, went tense and ended in nail biting stress, the letter came. I got it only in the evening, when one of the most distracted workers at the orphanage remembered that it had arrived that morning while I was at school.

I opened it, only finding a piece of paper and a small disk, a little bigger than a coin. 

The holographic projector.

*******************************************

99 Points in total, divided between Rescue Points and Villain Points. A way bigger number of the latter, of course, but it was okay. I was first in the ranking.

I wasn’t sure what to think about it. It was nice being first in something.

The other workers and the residents of the orphanage were all happy for me. They even programmed a celebration for tomorrow. Very strange feeling.

Really hope that it won’t cause problems or jealousy with the others.

….

Always the pessimist, uh?

********************************************

The morning of the first day of school, I met with Izuku in front of his house. He came down with his face red and shining eyes.

“Let’s go.” his smile was infectious and I found myself smiling while we walked towards the station.

After a train ride, we were only two of the mass of students that were walking inside the giant building of the U.A., at risk of losing ourselves in the throng of people. Holding on to each other, we managed to reach where our class positioning was posted and, after puzzling ourselves on the map for a moment or two, we found the right way.

Once we reached the door, I smiled awkwardly to Izuku and opened it.

And my mood soured a bit when I saw Bakugou already arguing with someone. Iida Tenya, if I remembered correctly his name.

Seeing that they were arguing, I made the executive decision of ignoring the whole thing, patted Izuku on the back and, after a smile, I meandered towards the back of the class, until I saw Tokoyami.

The bird head was really easy to find.

I sat down on the desk to his left, nodding towards Yaoyorozu behind that seat. I managed to snag a chair near the window, nice.

“Nice to meet you. Name’s Tarou Alexander. Alex for short. And yes, I’m not full Japanese. Hope it won’t be a problem?” I ended with a question at the end of the sentence, looking at him.

He looked at me for a few moments, before nodding slightly and answering.

Honestly, the fact that he was able to form words with a beak was still surprising. I mean, he didn’t have lips or even a tongue to shape the air and form the words, so how could he form words?

A mystery for another day.

“Fumikage Tokoyami.” A slight pause. “Pleasure to make your knowledge.”

Smooth voice. Pleasant to hear. I kind of want to hear him recite The Raven from Poe. Whatever.

“Pleasure is mine. So, what do you think of...” I got interrupted when, in a flurry of movement, all of the students hurrying to their seats.

“It took you lot eight seconds to calm down. Five additional seconds to find your seats. You all are lacking in common sense.”

A tired-looking, unshaven man dressed in what seemed to be a simple black shirt and black pants stood at the front of the class, near the teacher's desk. Aizawa Shouta. Around his neck was a mess of off-white scarves.

“I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Pleasure to meet you.”

His words said one thing, his face said the complete opposite. He really needed a nap… of several days. At least.

“Wear these, immediately. And then shove off to the P.E. grounds.” And he showed us a tracksuit with the U.A. letters on it.

I knew what was coming. I just hoped that I would manage to pass. In the meantime, I had a tracksuit to wear.

**************************************

I gulped in fear. Staring at the activated quirk of Eraserhead was terrifying, somewhat. I wasn’t sure why, but it was. Also the threat of expulsion was something to be wary of.

I had to pass this, at all costs. The power I had wasn’t, exactly, suited for this kind of thing, but I guessed that I could work around with some lateral thinking. I could boost the ball toss with a Plain, slow down the others with a swamp or even an Island, summon something if needed…

Yeah, I had to act that way, No other way for me to use my power and not fail.

Sorry in advance to the others.

“First: Fifty meter Dash. Tarou, Tenya. You’re the firsts.”

I blanched a bit. Really? Put me against the dude who’s quirk is Engine. Why not? I mean, it’s not like I wasn’t already disadvantaged, no?

Fuck.

“Daxos.” 

“Did you say something?” Tenya asked me while we positioned ourselves at the starting line, a quizzical look in his eyes.

I looked at him, before turning forward “Just that I’m sorry for this.” The apologetic tone of my voice must have confused him, as he blinked several times, before focusing back on the track.

Mentally, I catalogued my hand:

Plain, Swamp,  [ Drogskol Cavalry ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=411403&part=Drogskol+Cavalry) ,  [ Rogue's Passage ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=472024) , Phyrexian Reclamation,  [ Seal of Doom ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=406738) and  [ Grasp of Fate ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=406617) .

Literally only one was useful and the only reason why I had kept it. Swamp.

“Ready...” I overlaid the Swamp in front of me. More in front of Tenya, actually. But it was still in front of me.

“Go!” And the swamp appeared, causing the bespectacled teen to run inside the muck instantly, stopping and getting clogged.

I ignored the sound from behind me and ran as fast as I could towards the end. Which was now farther than before, but whatever.

I had a dash to complete. Even if it was more than fifty meters.

**********************************

“What was that?” Aizawa question was the only thing that greeted me - and Tenya - once we were back. I had used the travel back to explain the situation to the disgruntled classmate, reaching, if not an agreement, at least a comprehension.

Which was more than enough, honestly.

“The only way that I could use my quirk for this test.” I gestured towards the Swamp “To replicate what I did in the entrance exam, I need preparation. In a test like this one, my quirk isn’t all that good and this is the best that I could do at this moment in time.”

Aizawa looked at me for several seconds, before nodding and pointing at the swamp.

“Remove the marsh and go wait with the others.” I mentally closed the game and moved back with the others, exchanging a rather pained glance with Izuku.

That… I didn’t know how to take that. I just hope that my explanation was enough.

Better focus. What else could I use lands for this? Assuming that I had to remove them every time? Long jump. After that, it was all me.

Better buckle up.

************************************

At the end of the various tests, I knew that I did horrendously. I was pretty sure that the only reason why I wasn’t last was the way I used a Plain to extend my long jump score. And even then…

“Since giving all of your scores singularly would be a pain, I’ll disclose them all at once.” Aizawa took out a small projector, similar to the one in the letter, only square and a bit bigger.

“Oh yeah, the whole expulsion thing was a lie.”

We could have heard a pin drop.

**“WHAAAAAT?!”**

I simply sighed in relief and managed to slowly slid down until I was on the ground, sighing in relief.

I managed it. Somewhat. 

I couldn’t help the smile on my face. I did it.


	7. Chapter 7: Battle Phase - Declare Attackers

After that, I’m not exactly sure what had happened the rest of the day. I think I can remember some sort of ceremony or presentation? But I’m not sure.

I only know that I found myself in my bed at the orphanage, staring at the ceiling without actually seeing it, and thinking that soon - if not tomorrow - I would have to pass the whole team battle thing that All Might would instigate.

Let’s just hope I don’t end in a team with Bakugou, that would go splendidly…

I slowly slipped into sleep without even realizing it, the stress and the pressure of the day leaving me like steam gently rising from a pot of tea, my dreams coming fast…

_ I found myself in the same white nothing where I ended when I slipped from existence the first time. Only, this time I wasn’t alone, there was another thing with me: a deck holder with the image of a smiling faerie on it. _

_ Then, the face of the image turned towards me and smiled impishly. _

_ “Well, it took you long enough! What, not decisive enough?” _

_ I blinked, surprised by this: what was happening? Before I could say anything, she kept talking, completely steamrolling anything I wanted to say. _

_ “Oh, stop being a baccalà! I’m not as ugly as Rankle, of that I’m sure.” _

_ Rankle? Who the hell… No, focus. _

_ “Who are you?” I managed to say, my voice thin and echoing, like a bell. She smiled, showing needle-pointed teeth, behind red-painted lips. _

_ “Me? I’m your new best friend! All the tricks that I have done until now were child’s play until what we will be able to pull together! Just remember to call me when you need my help, ok? I’m...” _

And I woke up, her name on my lips and a strange, fruit-honey-sweet taste on my tongue.

Then my alarm went off.

************************************

In my travel towards school, I kept feeling slightly… off. Like something had gone missing, but not missing forever, just… temporarily misplaced. If it made sense.

I checked and rechecked my bag three times, my pocket at least eight and my decks twice: all there.

All books, wallet and phone, three decks.

And yet, the feeling remained. Exactly in the day I should focus as much as I could on the battle trials! Couldn’t happen in a worse moment.

With hindsight, I would feel really stupid…

******************************************

School was school. Even if it was a school for heroes, it was still high school, so normal classes were to be expected: english, math, history, etc etc. Kinda boring.

Still, some lessons were interesting for me, especially history: the apparition of quirk and what had caused was extremely interesting. And, more importantly, novel.

Izuku and I spent lunch together, with both Uraraka and Tenya. It was clear that they were there more for him than for me, so I was happy with that.

On the other hand, I could do without the glares that I could feel on the back of my head from a certain pomeranian. Well, whatever.

I had to focus.

The next class came way too fast, the same way a test for which you haven’t studied come.

“I AM HERE...” All Might’s muscle form came through the door with his signature smile fixed on his face “ENTERING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL TEACHER!”

Pro-tip for you, then: normal teachers don’t shout at the top of their lungs that they are entering the classroom.

I tuned out the whispers of the others and focused on him, trying to see if All Might was really as calm as he appeared.

…

Yes, it seemed so. On the other hand, this was the man that had managed to fool the entire Japan and probably the entire world that he wasn’t hurt even if he was horrendously hurt, so.

He must have a good skill in acting.

“FOUNDATIONAL HERO STUDIES! FOR THIS CLASS, WE’LL BE BUILDING UP YOUR HERO FOUNDATION THROUGH VARIOUS TRIALS!”

Holy shit, he was loud. I managed to restrain the wince, but only barely.

“LET’S JUMP RIGHT IN WITH THIS: THE TRIAL OF BATTLE!”

Yeah, exactly what I was fearing. I mean, I already knew that it was coming, but a guy can hope, now, can’t he?

“And to go and battle like a hero, you need to be dressed like a hero! So, the Support Department has provided you with the gear that you have requested to match with your quirk!”

The wall to the side of the teacher’s desk opened and several shelves slid out, each one with a pack with our seating number on it. All might grabbed them and, in the mid of the cheering of the various students, threw them to us.

Mine almost sent me falling from the chair, the big 19 almost hitting me in the face. If it wasn’t for my hasty parry, I would have been sent on the ground.

Still, my costume was here. That was enough. Our new teacher smiled with even more energy and moved towards the door, only to stop moments before exiting.

“Get changed and we’ll be ready to go! Everyone, gather at grounds beta! THE GARB YOU BRING INTO THE BATTLEFIELD IS VITALLY IMPORTANT, BOYS AND GIRLS!”

Then, All Might turned towards us, his giant smile somewhat more bright.

“ **AND DON’T FORGET! FROM HERE ON OUT, YOU’RE ALL OFFICIALLY HEROES!** ”

*****************************

Training ground Beta was an urban area, very similar to the entrance exam. The difference that we could see where, mainly, that there weren’t any robots around.

“All right! LET’S SEE WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF, EMBRYOS!”

Everyone was pretty cool in their costumes. I couldn’t say anything about Izuku, who looked a lot like a rabbit. The mouthguard really looked like he was smiling maniacally, though… Oh well, I’ll tell him later.

As for me… I went with something classic. Something that fit my power.

Something like a magician  [ outfit ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b1/2d/c0/b12dc0ef66da5f63e03e1bc0da12c0fc.jpg) . I simply looked up what I wanted online and sent them to the right department. Easy as that.

“Wow, you look cool! I didn’t know that you were aiming for the whole magician angle!”

Izuku’s voice brought me back on the here and now, making me turn towards him. I nodded and shot him a thumbs up.

“Your costume is nice, too! Even if you look like a bunny with an omnicidal smile.” Ah, whoops. That was supposed to be only in my thoughts.

“Wha- I DON’T look like an omnicidal bunny!” Izuku’s outrage was kind of adorable. Except that I couldn’t see his face behind his mask and his eyes were glaring at me.

It didn’t really help with the whole omnicidal bunny thing.

Before we could degenerate into something more childish - or one of us said something worse - Tenya interrupted us.

“Sensei! Regarding the performance ground we’ll be using, is it the mock-city from the entrance exam!?”

At least someone was actually really focused? Honestly, I kind of wanted to skip forward and be done with this. A five-minute timed battle was, perhaps, the worse condition for me to fight.

On the other hand, he knew this, so. Let’s focus.

“You’ll see - in fact take two steps and you’ll be there! This will be an indoor battle trial!”

And the questions started.

************************************

When we started drawing lots for the team, I was wondering with whom I would end with: having taken Mineta’s place, I was unsure if I would end with his canon teammate - which I didn’t know - or with someone else. Not that I could tell either way. Still.

Teams got formed fairly fast after a minute of explanation and I noticed that something was different from the start. Seemed that canon had decided to take a break.

Team A: Izuku and Momo; Team B: Hagakure and Mashirao; Team C: Satou and Shoji; Team D: Asui and Jirou; Team E: Aoyama and Bakugou; Team F: Me and Kaminari; Team G: Todoroki and Kouda; Team H: Tokoyami and Uraraka; Team I: Ashido and Sero and Team J: Iida and Kirishima.

I was pretty sure that the original team was with Izuku and Uraraka together? Oh well. Whatever.

After a minute of shuffling, we got together with out partner for the exercise.

“Hey! I’m Kaminari Denki! Nice to meet you!” He was smiling and waving, so I nodded and smiled back.

“Tarou Alexander. You can call me Alex, if you want.”

“AND THE FIRST PAIR TO DO COMBAT WILL BE THE FOLLOWING!” All Might took two spheres from the boxes at his sides and showed us the result: Team H as Villains and Team Gas Heroes.

I winced in reflex: that didn’t bode well for anyone.

*************************

I was half right and half wrong. Todoroki did freeze the entire building, but Dark Shadow managed to free the member of the team before All Might could call the victory. After that, Tokoyami made him destroy part of the building in huge chunks and Uraraka made them float outwards, launching them towards the Hero Team, pinning them in place.

It was a good counter. And it lasted until Kouda, somewhat managing to talk with Todoroki, didn’t call down a flock of birds to harass the two villains, thanks to the huge missing parts in the building.

In the end, the Heroes won, but it was certainly longer than in the canon.

The fights after were a bit less dramatics, but really interesting to see. A superhero movie didn’t have anything on a real life battle between superheroes-in-training!

Hagakure and Mashirao as Villains vs Shouji and Satou as Heroes was a slugfest. Mashirao literally had to fight the two physically focused heroes while Hagakure skulked and attacked from their blind angles. Which, with her being invisible, was pretty easy to do.

Sadly, a smart hit from Shouji sent Hagakure out of the fight and Mashirao didn’t last much longer without her help. Another win for the heroes.

Then it was Izuku and Momo - as Villains - against Heroes Iida and Kirishima.

I’m not even gonna say anything, except that the only real problem that Izuku had to fight against was Iida’s speed… that got nulled when he entered the bomb room and he triggered the trap that Momo had placed. In the meantime, the omnicidal bunny that I called my best friend was slugging against Kirishima. Both were smiling.

After that fight, however, I started to sweat nervously. Bakugou’s team hasn’t been called yet and only four remained. When Ashido and Sero got called as Villains against Asui and Jirou, I cursed softly under my breath. Judging by the feral smile that Bakugou had on his face, he had reached the same conclusion.

Our rematch would be far sooner that I hoped.

Oh, yes. Ashido and Sero won, by the way.

*****************************************

We were walking towards the fourth floor of the building, the bomb being carried by the both of us. Kaminari was looking at me with a kinda surprised, kinda shocked expression on his face.

“So, again, you quirk is….”

I had just explained it to him, but in my nervousness, I must have explained pretty badly.

“It’s a summoning quirk: I have a predefinite list of things I can summon and I need to obey certain rules. The main problem is that, unless I am in direct combat, I need five minutes between every summon.”

He gulped “Dude. We are dead.”

I blinked at him, before putting the bomb down in one of the room at the back and turning towards Kaminari. Who to be fair, looked pretty nervous. Probably from the bloodthirsty grin that Bakugou had sent us. But me specifically.

“Yeah, if we don’t manage a plan in the next five minutes we are absolutely dead. I think I can cheat a bit if I start preparing now, though.”

At that, he looked puzzled “What do you mean with prepping?”

Right, I hadn’t explained the rules.

“Look, think of my quirk as a card game. I need to put some things on the board before I can really start going. It takes me at least ten minutes before I can really do something, so the faster I start, the faster I can really help.” He nodded, still confused. No matter.

He would understand shortly.

I focused and brought my usual three decks on the forefront of my mind. Daxos was too slow. Aminatou? No, she wasn’t built for this.

So that left… wait a sec.

That wasn’t Inalla. That was... 

All at once, I remembered my dream and a wicked smile sprouted on my face, wicked enough that Kaminari bit back whatever was going to say.

“You know? Maybe we aren’t so screwed.” I hope.

**OFFICIAL TEAM DUEL!**

**ALELA DECK ADDED! THREE DECKS PER DAY MAX!**

**ALELA DECK CHOSEN! MULTIPLAYER BRAWL FORMAT SELECTED!** ****   
**TOTAL LIFE POINTS: 30/30!** **   
** **GAME START!**

I drew my first hand and All Might called the start of the five minutes of preparations. Let’s hope that it would work.

***************************************

The first hand of this first deck was interesting. And, literally, my salvation. Probably.

Plain.  [ Dismal Backwater ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=466999) .  [ Tranquil Cove ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=470830) .  [ Massacre Girl ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=461026) .  [ Guild Globe ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=461166) .  [ Animating Faerie ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=473000) . And  [ Frogify ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=473009) .

“Uh… your smile is filling me with more fear than Bakugou, you know?” Kaminari’s voice snapped me out of my joy-induced shock and I turned towards him,

“I got lucky in what my powers gave me. Wait a sec.”

I ran towards the window that looked on the front of the building and selected Dismal Backwater mentally, before positioning it so that the building was exactly in the middle. Once cast, I returned back towards my partner.

“Why did you do that? Now they know which floor we chose.“ He seemed grumpy. Whoops. I didn’t explain a lot, did I?

Better remedy.

“Sorry, I’m kinda excited. Ok, so. Your quirk is electricity, right?” 

“Yes?” He blinked again at the rapid change of topic.

“What’s your range?” This was pretty important for me to know.

“Range? Uhhhh…. mostly skin? I mean, I can discharge all around me, but it leaves me vulnerable after...” he was still confused.

“Ok. I know that Aoyama has lasers as a quirk, while Bakugou has Explosion. I have already fought against him and won, but it was a drawn out battle. In a short fight like this I’m at a severe disadvantage. If it wasn’t for the luck of the draw, literally, I would be worse than useless.”

“Dude, you have already said this. Do you have a plan or not?” He seemed to be fed up of hearing the same thing twice without variation. Fair.

“Yes. Can you take care of Aoyama without putting yourself in danger? Use the terrain to your advantage?” That only made him more confused.

“What terrain?”

I felt myself draw another card:  [ Kaya’s Wrath ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=457331) . Not useful right now.

“ **That** terrain.”

The Dismal Backwater manifested mere moments before All Might could shout at us to start: a watery bog with contorted, dark tree sprouted from literally nowhere, creating mass and space from nothing and isolating the building from the street outside.

“What the...” Apparently, Kaminari didn’t think that my quirk could act at this level. Maybe he was thinking more about something like pokemon? Whatever, not the moment. I needed another land and the plain in my hand would work spectacularly.

“Look, if I’m right, Bakugou will come for me. Take care of Aoyama without too much risk, ok?” An explosion echoed from the outside.

He gulped, before looking at me and nodded, his face becoming resolved “Ok. I’m going.”

And down the stairs he went. Let’s just hope that… Oh, right.

The Plain went inside the building this time, all around me and the Bomb. I was kinda curious to see what would happen if I summoned a land inside a building.

…

Apparently, it appear without problem or concern for pesky things like the laws of physics. The whole floor expanded all around me, the walls moving farther away, a sun kissed plain of green, lush grass manifesting from nowhere.

Ok then.

I honestly doubted that it would delay Bakugou by more than a few seconds. Still, they were a few seconds I would need.

I waited. The sounds of explosions soon faded away, only leaving silence. Silence, and the sound of steps coming towards my position.

I could also hear, faintly, the sound of laser from the outside of the building, but not much more. So I was in the dark about that.

Then, the door to this room opened with a slam and Bakugou, in all of his explosive glory, stood in the frame of the door, his face in a rictus-like smile, murder shining in his eyes.

And yet, he didn’t launch himself towards me.

“Bakugou.” “Asshole.” I smiled at his… let’s call it greeting.

“So, no mad charge against me? I mean, this is your chance to defeat me and recover your honor, no?” I said, completely relaxed. He twitched.

“No, you bastard. I’m just gonna walk to you and pound you into the floor. Without running away, you can’t do anything.”

Well, I mean. That was kinda rude. not wholly inaccurate, of course, but rude. No matter.

This time, he was really,  _ really _ wrong.

“Oh? Well then, feel free to try. I mean, it’s not like the other fight we had ended differently. Oh, wait!” I smiled at him, all sharp edges and mocking angles “It did.”

He twitched again, a full body shudder that made him release some explosions by reflex, before his ‘smile’ turned into a full on homicidal expression.

“I’ll enjoy destroying you.  **HEY** !” He shouted all of sudden, raising an arm towards me. 

Right, his gauntlets. The ones that store his sweat - i. e. Nitroglycerin.

“If the bomb is intact, we win, right?!” His expression was downright feral. I put a bored expression on my face and allowed a single card to manifest on the top of my finger, a shiny shape that spun slowly.

“Right, this has gone for far too long.” He blinked, a bit taken aback from my change of behavior.

“ _ Frogify. _ ”

Blue glitter dust enveloped him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was unreasonably difficult to write. Sorry for the delay.
> 
> Thanks to all the beta on discord that helped me with this.

**“WHAT THE FUCK!”** His shout made the whole room - even with the expansion from the Plains - echo. He was THAT loud.

Then, his whole form shone blue and vanished behind a poof of smoke. In his place, a small, blue-skinned frog.

“**WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, YOU FUCKER?!!?**...ribbit.”

Silence.

I could swear that the frog was slowly turning red.

“What. Did. You. Do. ...ribbit.”

I smiled kindly, before moving towards him, casually, my hands in the pockets of my jacket, clutching the capture tape that had been granted to us before the start of the fight.

“I defended myself, obviously.”

Yes, my smile was a tiny bit mocking, why do you ask?

“Since when could you turn people into frogs!!!!...ribbit.”

He jumped at me, completely out of himself with fury. I managed to sidestep to my side and grab him by the midsection, before taking out the capture tape and starting to truss him like a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Without the deadly bit.

Now that I was nearer, I could see that he had several black lines on his back shaped like an explosion, while the pattern on his forelegs was reminiscent of his grenade bracers.

Interesting tidbit. Apparently clothes and other markings of the person had an effect on the frog shape. Good to know.

Once I had him completely blocked and helpless - also, I was very glad that he hadn’t tried to attack me and was still pretty stunned - I moved towards the window.

Also, ‘stunned’, for Bakugou, didn’t mean ‘silent’. He was cussing up a storm of epithets that would bring down all the saints from heaven and probably a couple of gods, too.

I ignored it, which only incensed him even more.

Once I managed to reach the window, I could see that Kaminari was stalking Aoyama amidst the water-logged trees, while Aoyama was… trying to not get too muddied up.

In a swamp.

…

Ok, it fit with what I knew of his behavior.

“Kaminari!” I shouted from the window, attracting the attention of both of them.

“Water conducts electricity!” My voice stunned them for a moment, before Kaminari lit up with comprehension. Aoyama, instead, looked confused.

“Indiscriminate Discharge: 1,300,000 Volt!”

The whole thing turned bright yellow, the water sizzling and sparking.

I’ll be completely honest: I didn’t think that using the water in the swamp to electrocute Aoyama would work.

*******************************

Once we were back in the control room - with Aoyama still twitching a bit, Bakugou still trussed and cussing and bound.

Everyone turned to look at me with an incredulous stare on their faces. All Might and Izuku included.

“What? Did I have something on my face?”

“**PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN, YOU UGLY BASTARD MOTHERFUCKER!**... ribbit.”

I dropped him on the ground without saying anything. Still tied.

He bounced like a ball once, before stopping, groaning a bit and looking like a perfect target for kicking practice. I refrained.

Barely.

I didn’t actually want him dead, so I refrained. Even if he was making it really hard.

“V-Very well then. Let’s start with the evaluation! **WHO WAS, IN YOUR OPINION, THE BEST IN THE MATCH?!**” The pro-hero voice echoed in the room, his smile back on his face.

Everyone, every single one of the others, pointed at me. Even Kaminari.

I blinked at him “Without you we wouldn’t have won that fast.”

“Dude, you didn’t even need me.” He shrugged, crossing his arms behind his head “You could have won this whole match alone. Just turned Aoyama into a frog and puff, match won.”

I was already shaking my head in negation, when Yaoyorozu interrupted me “He’s right. You dominated the match from the start. You shifted the whole environment to your favor, you explained clearly to Kaminari what you were planning to do and suggested a role for him that maximized his effectiveness and the least effort needed. Furthermore….” She kept talking, crossing her arms, with Izuku nodding at her side “...you clearly have a lot more tricks to use than just the environment modification, as the transformation in frog showed us.” 

“Exactly!” All Might was sweating a bit, clearly aware that she had stolen his thunder with her explanation, while everyone was nodding along her.

“**WILL SOMEONE FREE ME?!?!?!**... ribbit”

A beat of silence passed after Bakufrog explosion, before Kaminari raised a single finger and added a last comment.

“Plus, you turned Bakugou into a frog. It’s something to consider.”

“**I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU DISCOUNT PIKACHU!!!!**... ribbit”

“Yes, yes. You won wonderfully. Now, if you please, free Young Bakugou from his restraint and undo the transformation.”

I nodded at the teacher, before kneeling down and undoing most of the tape that was keeping Bakufrog blocked, before moving fast to the other side of the room and snapped my fingers, closing the game.

**OFFICIAL TEAM DUEL END! WIN! TWO OBJECTIVE WON, ONE REMAINING!**

Bakufrog shivered and waved for a moment, before he returned to his normal shape with a pop of displaced air and a shower of blue glitter.

Glitter that clinged to his clothes and skin. Every available inch of him was completely covered with glittering blue. When he opened his mouth, several shiny motes of dust floated down.

He scrunched his nose and looked down at himself. Somehow, that movement raised a cloud of glitter all around his head.

He froze.

For several moments, no one and nothing moved. Then, we heard him.

“Ahh… Ahhhhh….”

My eyes widened without meaning, before I moved, fast and with purpose, for the door.

**“ACHOOOOO!!”**

A sneeze so powerful that I could have mistaken it for a real explosion shook his frame, sending glitter everywhere. 

After that, all of us ran out from the room before Bakugou could murder us all.

************************************************

It was the day after that I saw the press for myself.

There were a veritable carpet right in front of the gates of the school, unpleasantly reminding me that the whole U.S.J. debacle was near.

Still, I managed to slip from then using a very smart and cunning tactic.

“You have All Might as a teacher, right? Can you tell us how he is as a teacher?”

I looked at the reporter and, smiling sweetly, I shook my head “We are under strict orders to not reveal anything. Sorry.”

And I slipped past the gates, skipping calmly towards the class. A big day today, if my memories were right: the selection of the class president.

I had zero interest in it, of course, but I was wondering if I wanted to interfere in the whole situation or not. I mean, it could be fun… and, if I remember correctly, in the original Izuku got chosen for his fight against Bakagou.

…..

Right, quirk society. They were used to people with powerful quirks being in extremely seen positions - heroes - and they, almost subconsciously, equated the strength of the quirk to the value of the people holding it.

Well, better nip the risk of being chosen in the bud.

Being class president sounds like a lot of work for nothing. So, let’s see…

Oh, yeah, this could work.

********************************************

Aizawa was already ready to go to sleep, at least if the bags under his eyes were an indication. On the other hand, he had those bags almost permanently, so…

“Alright, settle down. I took the freedom of reviewing your marks and evaluation of the battle test of yesterday.” Oh-oh.

“Bakugou. Stop acting like a child without self-control. You are wasting your talent and your opportunities.” Silence fell on the classroom and I admit that I felt a tiny bit bad for him. Being called out in front of everyone was bad.

“Tarou. Be less of a lone wolf. With how your quirk work, it’s the worst thing you could do.” I blinked, before nodding meekly.

“Now, let’s get on with the homeroom notices. I’m sorry to have to spring this on you all, but...” Everyone tensed. I did, too, even if I knew what was going to happen.

He was just that dramatic.

“We need to pick a class president.”

A beat of silence.

**“FINALLY SOMETHING SCHOOL-LIKE!!!”**

The shout was from the whole class and was loud enough to deafen me. Good god guys, a bit less volume the next time?

I kind of tuned out the whole mess of shouts, until I heard Iida’s voice. I only caught the end of his, without a doubt, inspiring speech.

“...which is why this must be settled by vote!!”

Now.

Before anyone could say anything else, I clapped my hands really, really loudly, attracting the attention of everyone.

“Iida, you are absolutely right! But we don’t know each other all that well, so I have a proposition: each one of the candidates will go to the teacher’s desk and give a brief speech. Something like… thirty seconds or a minute long. Then we will vote for who has convinced us. This way we can have an idea on how people behave.”

“Well, it doesn’t sound too bad...” “Could work...” “I approve! This way we can be sure that whoever get elected is someone that not only can conquer the trust of our classmates, but also inspire trust in what they say!”

Exuberant, wasn’t he? Maybe his engines were speeding up more than just his legs.

“Is that all right sensei?!” we turned towards Aizawa and he was already in his sleeping bag, laying down. He answered us with a simple shrug.

“As long as you all decide by the deadline, anything’s fine.”

Well then.

People got up almost all at once, wanting to go first. Yaoyorozu was the one to put a stop at that, using my own method and clapping her hands.

“How about we go in seating order?” Made as much sense as anything else, but people seemed to think that it was a revolutionary idea. I simply remained seated and waited for my turn.

As I was number 19, I would wait a lot.

Also, I already knew for whom I would vote, so I barely paid any attention to the speeches. I only listened to Izuku’s - full of stutter and blushin, but he was strangely adorable - Bakugou’s - mainly because he was shouting loud enough that it wasn’t possible to  **not** listen to him - and to Iida.

When was my turn, I simply shrugged and passed to Yaoyorozu, who blinked and looked at me with a hard stare. I smiled back. I was pretty sure that she had understood what I had done.

All the better, my vote was for her.

**********************************

The end result was something like six votes for Yaoyorozu, three for Iida, two for Izuku and the rest were divided by several others in the class.

Yaoyorozy stopped me before I got out of the class, her expression a conflicted one.

“You did it on purpose.” I looked at her and cocked my head to the side, feigning ignorance.

“Did what on purpose, exactly? If you are talking about turning Bakugou into a frog, then yes. I did.”

She shook her head. I gestured to Izuku to go on without me.

“The speeches. The presentation. You didn’t want to become class president and you knew that people would have voted for you after what you did in the battle trial yesterday.” I nodded.

There was no one else around. It was marginally safe.

“I did. I guess you want to know why?” I waved my hand towards the door, inviting her to walk and talk at the same time.

She simply stiffened a bit, before nodding warily and starting to move towards the cafeteria, with me right at her side. Standing behind her was too menacing and, as a scion to a wealthy family, I was pretty sure that she was at least somewhat proficient in reading the subtext.

All the same, I waited a few more seconds before starting to talk, with her position becoming more rigid by the second.

“Did you know that I was quirkless until around… oh, ten months ago?”

My opening must have shocked her, because she stopped walking and turned towards me with an incredulous expression on her face.

“Yep. I didn’t have a shred of power. Plus, I’m also an orphan and my parents were foreigners. You can imagine how good my life was.”

The heavy silence that followed my statement was enough. Looking at her from the corner of my eyes, she looked pretty troubled by my words.

Good.

“So, when I heard that Iida wanted to vote to decide who would be the class president, I knew that people would vote for me just because my quirk is pretty strong and I was flashy enough to be remembered. I mean, Todoroki is the son of Endeavor and froze an entire building, but people are talking about me.”

The door to the cafeteria was in sight, so I stopped and turned towards Yaoyorozu, a mischievous smile on my face.

“I truly believe you will be an excellent president. So, allow me to congratulate you once again.” I bowed and then moved inside, but leaving a last word for her.

“Oh, and megaphones are extremely useful in emergency situations!”

Now, to lunch.

**********************************************

As expected, the press had entered the building, causing panic. Yaoyorozu had created a megaphone and had defused the situation, getting praised by it.

She looked troubled by that and, predictably, tried to give the position to me, but I managed to interrupt her with a well placed applause and a compliment thrown her way.

Just in time, too. After that, Aizawa resolved the situation and I could draw a breath of relief.

Another problem avoided.

Now, the USJ.

**********************************************

The day after, it was time for Foundational Hero Studies. Again.

Last time ended in a battle. This time would end in a battle, too. But I was ready. I just had to decide which three decks I would use for today…

Alela was a good choice. Daxos was also pretty good. Between Aminatou and Inalla, though…

Aminatou was more strategic, but she had a bit too many whole board cards. Inalla was a faster, but as far as global effect goes… Also, she was a bit more lethal.

On the other hand, I had a lot less compulsion than other fan could have in removing permanently a couple of the villains, so…

Inalla it was.

**************************************************

“For the foundational skill of heroics we’ll study today, it was decided that you’ll be supervised by a three-man team comprising me, All Might and somebody else.”

Sero raised his hand “Sensei! What’ll we be doing!?”

Aizawa raised a tag, with RESCUE written on it.

“Be the hero that everyone needs, whether it’s a flood or any other disaster. It’s the Trial of Rescue!”

Chatter started once again, but Aizawa did put a stop almost instantly.

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves.” The way he had said that was enough to send the whole class into silence. Slowly, the wall to the side of the classroom opened, showing the shelves with our costumes. Or our tracksuits.

“As I was saying, this time, it’s entirely up to each of you whether or not you wear your costume. Some of your costumes probably aren’t adapted to the task at hand, after all. The training area is fairly far away, so we’ll get there by bus. That’s all, go get prepared.”

I decided to wear my hero costume. It was stylish, I moved in it pretty easily and I like it. Also, it was my aesthetic, so.

Why not?

************************************************

The bus was a normal bus and, after Iida had caused a bit of chaos in his quest to bring order to the disaster that was our class, we took our seats, ready to tackle our new trial.

I sat with Izuku, moving away from Yaoyorozu’s look, and started chatting with them.

It’s not like I didn’t want to make friends, after all.

**LETHAL LAST HIT: ON REQUEST > ACTIVATED.**


	9. Chapter 9: Main Phase Two

I spent most of the travel-time ignoring the others and, after a couple of people tried to start talking with me - and Izuku told them that every now and then I did that thing while I retired myself into myself, or however he put it, to think about my quirk - they decided to let me be, especially when they saw my face distort in thought.

We reached the USJ building exactly on time. I could feel the cold sweat dripping in the back of my head. I had to survive the villain attack, make sure that all my classmates survived and to not reveal that I knew of it beforehand.

Being mistaken for a villain spy would be a real bad thing for my social life.

Oh, and the threat of imprisonment if I didn’t manage to defend myself in front of the law, that was a problem, too.

I mean, i don’t think they would be able to hold me, but it’s not like I knew all the quirk in the world.

Maybe they had a Clockblocker-alike on thap and I would spend the rest of my days suspended in stasis until the explosion of the sun.

“rou, Tarou… Alex!”

Izuku’s voice shook me out of my hyperfocus and I blinked, looking around me and trying to understand what was happening.

Apparently we needed to enter and I was just standing there like a baccalà. Good to know.

Shrugging the green-haired hero-in-training question, I walked on the back of the group, cycling between my available decks for today. I had forego Aminatou, as her skillset was more suited to a control situation where no one was on my side.

Not the case, this time, I fear.

So, Alela, Daxos or Inalla.

Inalla was faster than Daxos, but as far as direct combat, it didn’t had a lot of really heavy hitter. Just a couple of sphinxes and similar. I needed something that could hit fast and hard and she relied more on monster effects at the entrance.

Plus, some monsters… I didn’t trust them if summoned.

Daxos… Daxos was, without a doubt, my best choice in this case, if I needed to remove them permanently. I mean, i didn’t have all that many problems in killing them… at least logically speaking… but Daxos was…

Also, I think that I had some board-wide removal n it and I didn’t want to kill my classmates. So, either I didn’t use it or I used Alela.

The problem with Daxos was the fact that it was really slow. If it started getting steam would be hard to stop it, but if it lagged…

Alela, well… it was 60 cards instead of 100, so I would get what I needed faster. On the other hand, I could end with an empty deck before I had solved the issue.

But if I needed more than sixty cards to deal with all the villains, then we had a problem. Plus, Alela herself had Deathtouch, which would remove the Noumu problem beautifully.

I hoped.

Anyway, Daxos was still a strong contender, but, again, the slowness problem… plus, if I started drawing bricks or ended in mana drought…

My resolve settled and I selected Alela with an assured nod and returned back to my senses.

And I noticed that Thirteen was already talking. Whoops.

“...kill people.” Wait, what? “And in that way, it’s not different from the quirks of everyone here.”

Thirteen’s voice was somber and, even if I couldn’t see his face, I had the impression that he was looking us with an uncommon seriousness in his tone.

“We can tell at a glance that that is the make-up of this world. Naturally, in this society of superhumans quirks are strictly regulated, and the requirements for their lawful use enforced.”

He took a breath, before going on.

“That being said, please don’t forget that each of you posses a quirk that can go awry. One wrong step is all it takes to be able to kill others accidentally.”

I wonder if he was talking by experience.

“During mr. Aizawa physical strength test you learned of your respective power’s true potential. During All Might’s trial of battle I think you took away a true sense of the danger of brandishing those powers against one another.”

Everyone was listening intently. I was too, but my mind was elsewhere. I was debating.

I knew that the attack was going to happen as soon as Thirteen had finished his speech, so I had to be prepared. Alela’s deck lit up and it shuffled in my mind, the fae trickster ready to be called.

“This lesson will serve as a fresh start! Let’s get to studying about how to wield our quirks for the sake of human life!”

**OFFICIAL GAME START! ONE VS ONE.**

**LIFE COUNTER: 25/25**

Draw.

Plain. [Prison Realm](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=prison%20realm). Island. [All that Glitters](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=474040). [Arcanist’s Owl](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=474244). [Temple of Silence](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=468130). [Massacre Girl](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=462082).

“Your quirks emphatically do not exist to hurt others!”

Could be better. Could be worse. Massacre Girl had to be discarded, I couldn’t use her. I still didn’t know what a board-level effect would do and trying now was a recipe for disaster.

“Please leave this exercise having fully understood that your quirks exist to help people!”

The entire class erupted into an applause, even if it was somewhat subdued by the most stoic or asocial of them - Todoroki and bakugou, unsurprisingly - while others were crying - Kirishima - with elation. Or something like that.

I tensed up.

It was time to blow up my cover.

“That is all! You have my gratitude for listening so intently and patiently!”

Cheers erupted. I looked towards Aizawa and started moving, calmly, my heart in my throat and feeling like I had tried to swallow the moon.

I couldn’t let anyone see what I was going to do. I had to act fast and try to avoid any casualty. Changing things for the worse was a very possible chance.

I was near Aizawa when he started talking.

“All right, first thing’s first..” and he stopped, looking behind him, down where the various environments where. And he stiffened.

Now.

Before he had even managed to turn towards us, I was already at his side, my hand extended towards the black portal at the center of the plaza, the Island superimposed on the normal reality. I played it and passed my turn, needing every single second I could spare. 

The splash I heard as satisfactory, I admit.

Also, Aizawa reacted remarkably fast turning towards the students and shouting at them to stay together. He had also, somewhat, put his goggles down.

“No. 13! Protect the students!”

“Fog guy is a teleporter!” I managed to shout before I got pushed back by him. The tiny nod Aizawa did was a clear indication that he had heard me. 

Now, to prepare the next move…

I took out my cellphone, but no signal. The other were chatting between themselves, at least until Aizawa revealed that they were real villains.

In the meantime, everyone was reaching their own conclusions. Both Yaoyorozu and Todoroki had reacted in a calm way - Todoroki more than Yaoyorozu - but a subtle panic was starting to seep around us. It was lucky that my island was currently blocking their advance, as they had to move out of the water first.

Sadly, the fog guy - what the heck was his name again? - was still there. We didn’t have that much time.

I could barely hear the sounds all around me, only noticing when a refined voice started talking behind us.

“Ah. So it was one of you that created that body of water. No matter.”

My eyes widened and turned looking at the fug guy - Kurogiri! That’s the name! - that had warped behind us.

“Greetings. We are the Villain Alliance. I would like to explain why we are here, but I fear that Shigaraki mood has taken a turn for the worse. So, I will be brief. We are here to extinguish All Might.”

Silence fell for a moment. The shock had claimed everyone.

“For this reason, I can’t allow you to contact anyone outside this building.” Bakugou and Kirishima rushed forward, but Kurogiri simply vanished and reappeared a few meters away, looking towards us.

**“You will be scattered...”**

It was lucky that I had told Aizawa that there was a teleporter. For that reason, and that reason alone, he was still here. And the black fog that was threatening us vanished like mist under the morning sun.

I could see that fog guy was pretty surprised by that, before his focus turned towards Aizawa in a moment.

“Ah. Of course.”

More importantly for me, that counted as an attack, giving me one more turn.

[Mace of the Valiant](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=476032). Nice. Not immediately useful, but nice. I turned towards the mountain zone and placed the Temple of Silence on one outcropping there, knowing that I would need the mana. And better remove the pieces that needed time as early as possible. Plus, it gave me the chance to scry my next card.

Another Island. Good enough. You stay on top.

Pass my turn.

“Ah, of course. Eraserhead. We had no idea that you would be the third teacher, only that All Might and Thirteen would be here with some homeroom teacher. An imperdonable oversight on our side.”

Even when surrounded - all of my classmates were around him, after all - and with Thirteen moving forwards with his arms extended, he seemed completely calm. I didn’t like it one bit.

“I wonder how much more will you be able to keep your eyes open.”

Everyone froze for a second time in the span of two minutes. The fact that he knew that meant that they were way more knowledgeable than the usual run-of-the-mill villain.

“Kurogiri! Where are you!?” The shout came from the center of the plaza and, when I hazarded a look, I saw a dripping wet Shigaraki red with fury and shouting. The noumu near him stood there, motionless.

“If you excuse me, I need to go.” And the fug guy had the audacity to dip his head and start to moving slightly backwards. That was, evidently, too much for Bakugou, who propelled himself towards him, one hand extended and already sparking.

The resulting boom was loud enough to make everyone flinch back and the cloud of smoke big enough to mask both of them to our sight.

Which was obviously a mistake, as Eraserhead had lost line of sight. When the cloud of smoke had vanished, neither Kurogiri nor Bakugou was there.

Everyone turned towards the plaza, already dreading the result, but we drew a deep breath of relief when we heard the sound of cursing and explosion coming from the air above the flood zone.

A hail of bullets came towards us from down there, forcing us to duck behind the rail and reassess the situation. The situation was that we had Bakugou in the flood zone, we were still here and Shigaraki knew about Aizawa.

“I’m assuming that phones don’t work? Kaminari, keep trying to contact the school. Iida, run back and notify them of what is happening.” Eraserhead wasn’t a pro-hero for nothing, though, so he took control of the situation quickly and efficiently.

“But...” Iida’s protest got shot down instantly “No but. This is your task. GO!”

Iida went, pipes of his engines bursting and smoking, disappearing behind the door in moments. I was looking at the group villains from behind the rails, deciding what to do.

Their assault with various projectiles had given me the next turn, so it was good. On the other hand, I needed the right combination..

The Temple appeared on the mountain, spreading a momentary blanket of silence all above the place, making Aizawa turn towards me.

“Tarou. What other land can you summon?” He knew about the full - or what they thought were the full - capacity of my power, so it was a reasonable question.

“One plain, one island.”

He nodded and pointed at the flood zone “Can you create the plain over there?”

Right, Bakugou was there. I nodded and waved my hand towards it. The plain appeared at the center of the whole place, like it was already there from the start, and Aizawa nodded.

“When you can, deploy the island in the Urban Fire zone. After that, stay with the others and don’t cause prob...” black mist enveloped him and vanished from our sight.

“So you were the one who is creating these places. What an interesting quirk.” Kurogiri had reappeared now that Aizawa wasn’t there anymore.

“What if I am?” White mana, blue mana, black or white mana. Three mana.

Good enough for now.

“I know someone that would be very interested about you. You will probably meet them before long.”

The black mist started to move towards us, so I had to move. Also, meeting All-For-One didn’t sound too appealing.

“Prison Realm.” Three mana spent, Kurogiri vanished and I managed to peek at the nex card: another Plain. I needed the mana, so I left it there.

Everyone, Thirteen included, was looking at me. I felt unfairly accused.

“What?”

The space hero shook his head and gestured towards the others “Nothing that is relevant right now. Rejoin the others and I will move towards the Flood zone to rescue your classmate. Don’t move from here.”

“Sensei, what about Aizawa-sensei?” Kirishima piped up, seemingly calmer than before, his hands raised. Thirteen nodded, I think conciliatory, but I wasn’t sure.

“He is already in the middle of the fight. Didn’t you realize that the sounds of gunfire stopped?”

Everyone’s eyes went wide and, as a single man, we all turned towards he amin plaza, where Eraserhead was fighting with the bunch of villains. And winning. At least for now.

Shigaraki hadn’t moved yet, though, and neither had the Noumu.

I had to move.

“Found you!” A villain - big, strong, four armed, skin like rocks - had appeared from the stairs to our left, the side farther away from Thirteen, and, after revealing his presence, dashed towards us.

I felt the turn change once again, my mental hand returning to six, before the villain slammed on the ground raising a cloud of dust.

Kirishima and Shouji darted forward, grabbing the arms of the villain, before Uraraka tapped him on the back. At that point, Sero sent his tape around his midsection and threw him towards the Flood Zone. Towards the water part of the Flood Zone, to be specific.

I played the island in the Fire Zone, giving the place a bit of much needed water that, being stuck in an hole in the ground, didn’t exactly do a lot, and, after that, I was ready.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” my voice surprised the others, that turned towards me with a puzzled look in their eyes.

“Didn’t your games going to topple kingdoms, uh? **Alela****, ****Artful**** Provocateur!**”

White, blue and black coalesced over my head, before forming a shimmering portal, looking a lot like a curtain. Then, a slender and small hand clad in a black and red medieval dress appeared, dragonfly wings on her back and a shock of red hair parted the veil, a glint in her eyes and a mischievous smile on her face.

“Well, it was time, don’t you think? But now that I am here, things are gonna get fun!”

Her voice was tinny like a bell, but it was also enchanting. Everyone, now, was looking at me. At least until Thirteen cleared his voice and reminded us to not move from here.

The space hero started moving, while I was wondering why Thirteen hadn’t sent us out. Luckily, it was Kaminari who asked him, still on the phone and trying to call.

“Sensei? Why didn’t you send us out?”

The space hero nodded thoughtfully “Excellent question. Is because I don’t know if there are other villains outside. While it’s improbable that they will manage to catch Iida, it’s another story if it was a group as big as ours.”

Everyone nodded. It made some sort of sense. Thirteen nodded again and vanished down the stairs. All of us moved silently towards the rails and looked at the fight, trying to see if Aizawa needed help.

Not for now, it seemed.

Tense seconds passed, until a voice made us turn.

“So you’re still here, uh?” a villain with razor fingers had reached the platform where we were, along with one that looked like an hybrid between a dinosaur and a mana and a one that was basically a more human gorilla.

“Shigaraki sent us to see where Kurogiri was, but I’m guessing you managed to defeat him somewhat? So much for his vaunted teleport. Well, since we are here, we can, at least, have some FUN!” and he dashed forward, fingers extended to cut.

Aiming at Jirou.

Before I could do something, a loud, echoing sound came from her legs and sent the villain back, while the others covered their ears in pain.

Right, she had those stereo things in her boots. I analyzed the new card I got ([Azorius Guildgate](https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=457387)), before playing the Plain between the trio of villains and splitting them up.

“What?! What the hell did you do, you shitty brats?!”

Razor fingers turned towards us, face red, but by that moment, Sato was already on him, an hammer punch to the head hard enough to send him down on the ground. In the meantime, I spent four mana and the Arcanist’s owl appeared over me.

Then, the first four cards appeared in front of me, glowing shapes that attracted my classmates attention. At this point, I had fell back on my survival strategy: maximizing the gains and reducing the losses.

Plain. Swamp. [Workshop Elders](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=476036). [Bloodsoaked Altar](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=467964).

The Owl only granted me the artifact, not the other cards, so that one I chose, even if I couldn’t play it. For now.

“Bloodsoaked Altar.” I called - as I had to reveal it, as per rules - and I Heard Mina yelp near me.

“_Bloodwhat Altar_?!” She looked scandalized.

Before I could answer, Alela shimmered blue and another [faerie](https://www.cardkingdom.com/images/magic-the-gathering/throne-of-eldraine/throne-of-eldraine-62857-medium.jpg) appeared near her. Leather pants, grey shirt, a button working as a shield and a sharpened key as a sword. 

“Ok, what the hell is happening here?” Sero almost shouted, looking between me, Alela and the other sprite “First you start creating lands, which, fair, we all have seen you do it. Effects like making someone disappear? Fair, you turned Explody into a frog. But summoning fairies from nowhere is new! And what do you mean with Altar?! Are you a cultist of some sort of Elder God?!”

I blinked at the last part, along with all the others, looking at him with _questions_. He blushed and crossed his arms.

“I had a phase were I liked Lovecraft!” Well, that explained a lot. Tokoyami was the one who nodded, before putting his hand on his shoulder solemnly.

“Too racist for me. But if you like it, you should read it. No matter what the society tell you.”

What the everloving fuck was happening? Weren’t we in the middle of a Villain Attack?

The world decided to remind us of that fact a moment later, when a scream of pain came from the plaza. Luckily, it was one of the villains.

Unluckily, it was because the Noumu had decided to attack Aizawa.

“We need to go and help him!” Izuku was the first to say this, echoed by several others. Cooler heads, however, prevailed.

“We can’t go down there! Aizawa-sensei will be distracted by our presence!” Yaoyorozu shouted over the others, finally making them shut up.

“Good idea. Your corpses should be a good way to distract that annoying hero.”

The other two villains had managed to reach us again. They took the time of starting to gloat, however, which gave us the chance of turning and starting our defence.

No, not me. Todoroki. The moment they tried to attack us, he froze them to the ground, literally covering them in ice.

Still, even if failed, an attack was an attack and I gained another card.

[Lawmage’s Binding](https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=457334).

Perfect. I placed the Guildgate in front of the Mudslide zone and then I blinked, when the solution appeared in front of my eyes. Some time, looking at things like cards on a board really simplified the situation.

“I need to get down there.”

My exclamation stopped everyone in their tracks, making them turn towards me, their expression incredulous.

“Excuse me?” Yaoyorozu again.


	10. Chapter 10: End Phase

“I need to get down there.” I repeated more calmly, under the stupefied gazes of my classmates.

“Didn’t we  _ just _ decide that it was a bad idea going down?” Hagakure sassed, her tone of voice clearly indicating what she was thinking of my idea. I gave her a nod, but I had to. I had the solution.

“Yes, but Aizawa-sensei won’t last much longer and I have a way to stop this whole situation!”

Everyone looked unsure. I could hear the sounds of combat from behind me, cold sweat collecting on the back of my neck. Even Izuku looked unsure.

I mean, if I thought about it with a calm mind, I could see where they coming from, but I couldn’t let it continue…

“Can’t you, I dunno, do what are you trying to do from here?” Kirishima pointed out, making everyone blink and nod in solidarity.

I… stood there. Silent.

Could I? Technically, yes. I could.

But that would only cause problems along the way and it would also be safer, but…

It would put them in danger.

“It would put you all in danger. It would attract attention.” Right after I uttered these words, I knew what their answer would be.

“Dude, we  _ are _ heroes in training.” “Don’t underestimate us just because we look fabulous,  _ mon ami _ .” 

“We can take it!” 

“Yeah, we are great!”

The last nail was Izuku. He walked towards me, in the sudden silence, put a hand on my shoulder and nodded.

“We can help. We are not useless. Trust in me. Trust in  _ us _ .”

What else could I do? They were right.

“Ok. You win. My ability to support you will be limited after I have done this, so pay attention. Mainly, pay attention to Hands down there, he can disintegrate things when he touches it with all five fingers.”

Yaoyorozu’s eyes narrowed at that, along with Todoroki and Izuku, but I was running out of time. Noumu had Aizawa in his hands and Shigaraki was gloating, before finishing him.

“All that Glitter” Let’s eke out everything I could gain, yes?

Three mana and the mace appeared. I gave it to Kirishima “Here, use this if they come too near. It will at least protect you for a bit.”

“Thanks?”

Alela summoned another Sprite and she started to glow softly with a golden light. A orb appeared in her hands, the source of that glow.

Now she was a perfectly decent ⅘. In a moment, she would be a ⅚.

I turned towards the rails around the place, looked at the Noumu and collected the mana in my hands.

“Lawmage’s Binding.”

Twin bands of light appeared over me, before shooting towards the Noumu.

A moment later, the creature was stopped: motionless, without power to do anything as long as I kept the enchantment going.

And, with it being made of light, Shigaraki couldn’t turn them to dust, either.

**“WHAT THE HELL?!!!!”**

Speaking of the devil, his voice reached a pitch and a volume that I thought only Opera singers could reach. On the other hand, Aizawa was still down there with him, so I had to deflect his attention.

“I’m going to do something very,  _ very _ stupid.” I managed to murmur to Izuku, who looked confused for a moment, before shifting very,  _ very _ fast to alarmed.

“Wait, wha-”

Before he could say anything more, I cupped my hands around my mouth and started to shout.

**“HEY, SHIGARAKI!!”**

Every. Single. Villain. Stopped and turned towards me. Shigaraki included.

I gulped down the nerves and forced a smirk, even if they weren’t able to see it. Fake it until you make it, as they said.

**“YOU ARE A SHITTY PLAYER AND THIS IS NOT A RAID BOSS LEVEL!! THIS IS THE PVP SPECIAL EVENT, NOOB!”**

Maybe I was laying it a bit thick, but whatever. Judging by the way he was fuming, it had worked and, as far as I could tell, he was uniquely focused on me.

**“KILL HIM!!!!!”**

That was bad and good. In any case…

I pointed to two sprites and gave my order “You two, go and protect Aizawa. Don’t get seen.” The two sprites nodded and vanished into a flutter of wings.

**“WHAT THE HELL?!?!”** That was the shout from all our classmates, who were looking at me with their jaw on the ground.

“I DID tell you that it would attract attention.”

They grimaced, but Yaoyorozu was the first to recover, thankfully.

“Right! No time to waste. Kaminari, Midoriya, Kirishima, Sato, Shouji, Ojiro. You are our frontlines. Jirou, see if you can shatter some stone. Uraraka, Tokoyami, projectile duty. Koda, recognition, find anything you can. Hagakure, be our spy and take out who you can without being found.” At this, she gave her a stun baton that she had created in a moment “Tsuyu, distraction. Don’t get caught. Sero, Todoroki, Ashido, Aoyama, against their air and at long range attack! This is serious, move!”

We started to move, except me. I was still a bit frozen by her utter competence in what she had just done.

If I wasn’t gay, I would have fallen for her.

“DOWN!” Uraraka tackled me down, saving my head from being sniped out by a shot. Clearly one or two shooter had survived Aizawa’s barrage.

“Thanks Uraraka.” I managed to whisper once my heart had stopped to imitate a rabbit.

“Tarou! You are going in the center of the formation, move! Summon whatever you can when you can and help!”

I nodded and moved, down on the ground, towards the others, where they had created an encirclement using the door to avoid attacks from the back.

“Why don’t we just… get out of the doors and close them inside?” Kaminari was the one to ask, only to get swatted on the head by Kirishima.

“Thirteen and Bakugou are still out there!” and pointed towards the Flood Zone. I admit that the Angry Pomeranian existence had passed my mind for a minute or two. No matter.

“And we are heroes. We need to defeat the villains.” Izuku’s confidence in what he was saying was inspiring. Extremely so.

Everyone looked so much convinced after his words that they were roaring to go. And justly so, as we could hear the villains approach.

I looked at the new card that had appeared in my mental hand:  [ Banish into Fable ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=476043) .

I had literally no idea what it would do, but I think that keeping it for emergency sounded good. So, I focused on the rest of my hand.

The Guildgate appeared in front of the Mud Zone, giving me six mana to play with. Problem is, I needed two swamp and I only had one. Nevermind, better plan.

“Mace of the Valiant.”

The ornate mace made of shining metal appeared in my hands with nary a whisper, called into existence from nothing. Another sprite appeared, thanks to Alela. And the mace shone all the brighter, both of their effects activating.

Then, three more mana and the mace vanished from my hands, only to reappear in Kirishima’s hands.

“Eh?” He looked at it with bafflement, but it was a short thing.

“It will make you harder and stronger. just hold it!” I shouted a bit, starting to worry: my mace was still on my mental board, but not attached to any card that i could see. And yet, I had paid the equipment cost, it was attached to something.

Kirishima activated his quirk for a moment, turning to some sort of white stone instead of his usual, grey look “Hey, it works! Thanks!”

Ok, that’s good. Now, Alela was a 6/7, something that I was sure that could take any one of the villains in one single attack. Sadly, it would also kill them, as she had Deathtouch.

I would have already sent her to deal with Shigaraki, but there were too many villains and I didn’t want to risk it. Hope that this decision don’t come biting me in the ass…

“Here they come!” The projectile team started throwing pieces of rocks and boulders at the attacking villains that retaliated with all they could: some with water blades - interrupted by Todoroki - other with fire - also Todoroki - and one even with a boulder - this one was Uraraka, it nullified the gravity, stopped it and threw it back at the sender - that accomplished only one thing.

They counted as an attack and gave me another card.

[ Witching Well ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=474112) .

Can work. I hope.

“Coming, don’t be too surprised. I’ll try to disrupt their charge.” One blue mana and the well appeared right in the middle of the stairs, making several villains ether stop and look at it or downright hitting me with bone-hurting charges.

Another sprite appeared, the mace gained another counter and Kirishima skin started to look more like some sort of marble than normal rock.

The two cards that the well made me see where nice, too:  [ Watery Grave ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=454045) and  [ Dimir Guildgate ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=452190) .

I sent the guildgate at the bottom of my Grimoire and put Watery Grave on top. Then, I did it, even if it would hurt me.

“I’m can block one of the stairwells. Which one?” I asked Yaoyorozu, to which she simply pointed at the farthest one, where some villains were starting to come up.

“Got it.”

Island, Plains, Plains, Azorius Guildgate. Sacrifice Wishing Well. The disappearance of the well from the stairwell was as abruptly as its appearance, making the villains even more confused.

Draw two card: Watery Grave and Plains.

I needed a freaking swamp! Ok, calm. Put Watery Grave where Yaoyorozu had told me to. Pay two Life Points to make ti real without having to wait the next attack and, after that, be ready.

**LIFE COUNTER: 23/25**

The stairs on the other side of the entrance turned into a mass of ruins and water. Some curses could be heard from there, adult voices of villains that were trying a pincer maneuver on us.

“Good. When are you going to be able to do something more?” Her question was entirely fair.

“Five minutes or the next attack. Either or.” My answer was also extremely fair. It’s not like I could force the turns to be shorter.

I know, I have tried against Izuku during our spars.

“Well, you are gonna to have your wish granted in a moment. Here they come!” Her shout was entirely useless, as everyone could see the mass of villains coming straight towards us. And yet, it was strangely invigorating.

The two forces clashed. The frontline held - Izuku even managed to not break any bones! - and the rearguard started to pelter the main group. Soon, though, the villains started to separate in several groups and trying to attack us in various points, to test our defenses. We were managing. For now.

Yet, an attack was an attack, so my turn came.

[ Shinechaser ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=474239) .

Shame that she would need to wait until my next turn, this one I had a better idea and I told as much as Yaoyorozu. She had placed herself near me, to help with the strategic development of my summons, apparently.

“Plains on the stairs and then I’ll give you some...” “Not the stairs. Between those two groups.” She pointed towards one direction, so I shrugged and called the Plains where she had told me so.

The two groups were clearly working together and had a pretty good synergy. The roiling hills of grass stopped that almost immediately.

After that, I called upon the Bloodsoaked Altar in the middle of the group, right near the doors. It came out of the ground like a black shadow, slowly gaining substance and gently moving our group to the sides, until it was like it had always been there. 

As it was an artifact, another sprite appeared. The Mace gained another counter. And I grit my teeth and activated it.

“I pay two life points, sacrifice one Faerie Token, discard Massacre girl and summon the Demon Token.”

**LIFE COUNTER: 21/25**

One of the sprites floated on the altar, before being dragged down by a shadowy hand. In his place, with a malicious cackle, the  [ demon ](https://shop.dracoti.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/demon-token-m20.png) appeared above the altar.

All the villains stopped for a moment. To be fair, my classmates stopped, too. At least for a few moments. Then, Shigaraki’s voice jolted all of us back in action.

**“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING AROUND FOR? KILL THEM!!”**

Yep, he was still pissed. The attack started again, only I sent the demon to defend me and the others. Being a full 5/5, it was a pretty hard wall against most of the villains.

Also, Kirishima was now sporting a full +4/+4 thanks to the Mace, so he was downing the villains left and right, almost like Izuku was doing. Only, you know, a bit faster because the green boy didn’t want to break his own bones.

Soon, someone attacked the demon instead of avoiding it, granting me another turn. I was trying to keep my calm among the chaos, but I had to basically block all of the fighting that was going around me to keep focused.

We were reaching endgame, I could feel it. Frogify in my hand was a good option to keep open, but right now I needed firepower. Shinechaser got called and her brilliance was enough to make of her a beacon for the attacks.

She was also a nice 4/3, so bringing her down wasn’t all that easy.

Shigaraki was finally approaching and I needed a bit more firepower if I wanted to really be sure of his demise. And yes, I had decided that he would have to die. He was too dangerous and the way All-for-One was using him as a pawn…

No. I was sorry for Shimura Tenko. But Shigaraki didn’t want to be saved.

I  _ knew _ that I wasn’t fit to be a hero.

My demon hit a villain, another hit him, I gained another turn. I would either need more demons or some sort of strong attacker. Let’s hope that this card would help…

Swamp.

Well, anticlimatic.

“Swamp under their feet?” “Yes!”

Yaoyorozu was pretty stressed, so I shrugged and summoned it, before doing the whole song and dance of summoning once again. Another sprite sacrificed, Banish into Fable discarded and two more Life Points paid.

**LIFE COUNTER: 19/25**

The second demon took form and I only had Frogify in my hand. Absentmindedly, I checked on the two sprites that were keeping Aizawa safe and they returned an all clear. To Alela, not to me, I simply asked her.

Magic.

My Shinechaser got dusted before she could kill Shigaraki, so I gained another turn, but it was a pretty bad situation, I needed something…

[ Guild Globe ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=462222) .

Not exactly what I meant, but a card more was good for me.  [ Conclave Tribunal ](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=453792) , nice, but not exactly needed right now. I just remembered that Alela gave the other flying creature a +1/+0

Good enough for me.

“I need a clean line to Hands!” “Why?!” “I can close this!”

Silence. Yaoyorozu clearly didn’t believe me. It was okay, as long as she did what I asked. 

Finally, after five interminable seconds, she nodded and shouted a couple of orders, before creating some sort of sheet that draped all over us.

“Kaminari, now!!” “INDISCRIMINATE DISCHARGE!”

Electricity zapped out from him and towards the villains, jumping between them, sending either to the ground fuming or stunning them lightly. Shigaraki was stunned, too.

Good enough for me.

“To all my creatures: Full on attack on Shigaraki!”

Alela was the first to go, zipping forward with a small displacement of air. She reached him before the others and, even if he had already recovered, she managed to float in front of his face and called upon her magic.

He grabbed her with his hand. She smiled her dark smile.

She vanished into dust. He started to fall, dead, before the rest of my creatures - included the ones that were guarding Aizawa - hit him. Strangely the attacks seemed to pass beyond his body, but I just wanted to be sure that he was out of the game for good, so I didn’t care all that much.

In my head, Alela was giggling. Even if I was a bit sorry to see her go, I knew that she was the commander of my deck and, as long as I was alive, no one of them would really die.

Right after Shigaraki’s body had hit the ground, the door opened and All Might appeared

He wasn’t smiling.

***********************************

The situation after that was a… well, a clusterfuck. Shigaraki was dead and, after Aizawa-Sensei had recovered enough, the game ended - with my win - and Kurogiri reappeared.

And got his quirk cancelled instantly. Then he got arrested.

And then…. Well, then Yaoyorozu accused me to be in league with the Villains. And brought all the way I behaved suspiciously, the way I knew things I shouldn’t know - their quirks, their names, the way I referred to them like I knew them, the way I knew their plans - and… well, she had a point.

Several, in fact.

Most of the class was… if not convinced, at least suspicious. I was silent. Bakugou was fuming with hatred, glaring at me, palm sparking with smoke.

All Might wasn’t here, but Izuku was.

And he looked at me with hope in his eyes, pleading to not be hurt by a friend.

I could give him that, at least.

“Tar-Alex? Are you really in league with the villains?” He was so trusting and so… innocent. I…

I took a deep breath and felt a sting of pain in my chest. Right where my heart is. Was.

“No. I’m not.”

My declaration got instantly challenged by a series of shouts, until Yaoyorozu managed to stop them and pinned me with her eyes.

“Really? What proof do you have to support your claims?” Precise as normal, uh? Ok.

I looked at her and smiled. The pain in my chest was less, now, but it was moving downwards, towards my legs and feet.

Then I felt the first sting.

“Well, I knew about the League of Villains because I read about it on the internet.” That was strange enough to leave them completely flabbergasted.

Izuku looked like he was going to cry, though.

“Don’t cry. Look, you need to ask All Might about All for One. He is still alive and he is the mind behind the League. After that, tell him to talk with Sir Nighteye about the Eight Precepts of Death. It’s a yakuza group that is trying to manufacture quirk-erasing bullets.”

I ignored the gasps and the shouts of horror and the way Izuku’s eyes were growing wider and wider, the way Yaoyorozu yell had aborted in her throat, the way Bakugou was looking at me with horror.

My legs were halfway gone already, the  **white** starting on the knees. I had to tell him as much as I could.

“Stain is gonna attack Iida brother during the sport festival. All for One is extremely dangerous. There is a villain with the name of Dabi that can control blue flames. Another villain is called Himiko Toga, she can shapeshift drinking blood from someone. You will become so much more than what you already are, Izuku. You will be great.”

I smiled. The  **white** had already reached my torso and my elbows. At least I didn’t feel any pain.

“You will be great, do you understand me? Do your best, never lose heart and always go onward. Same for you all. You all will be great heroes. Just go onward.”

Izuku’s tears were the last thing I saw. Then…

  
**WHITE** .


End file.
